Three police charged with aiding Masten Wanjala escape from Police station
By Richard MangutiThree police officers have been charged with aiding a suspected criminal escape from lawful custody.
The threesome, namely Inspector Philip Mbithi and Constables Kamakia Mutuma Boniface and Precious Mwende Mwinzi, face the charge of assisting self-confessed serial killer namely Masten Milimu Wanjala escape from Jogoo Road police station on the night of October 12 and 13, 2021.
Wanjala was recently lynched in Bungoma County by an angry mob.
They denied the charge.
They also denied a second charge of wilfully neglecting to prevent Wanjala from escaping from lawful custody.
Wanjala who had confessed to killing 12 children surprisingly found his way out of the highly guarded police station where he’d been held while awaiting murder charges.
The three officers are represented by lawyer Danstan Omari and have been released on a cash bail of Sh150000.
They were charged after the closure of a miscellaneous application in which the state had sought to have them detained for 14 days.
Omari told senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi he will raise an objection to the criminal case against the police since the subject of their prosecution has been killed by mob justice.
“I will be raising an issue with the national police service over the arraignment of the three police officers;” Omari told the court.
He added that the matter should be resolved administratively and not through a criminal trial.
State prosecutor James Gachoka did not oppose the release of the officers on bond.
Ochoi freed the suspects on bond then directed the prosecution to supply them with witness statements.
The case will be mentioned on November 4 2021 for pre-trial directions.