Court defers murder plea taking of dreaded ‘crime buster’ Rashid Ahmed
The High Court on Wednesday differed murder plea for Pangani police officer Rashid Ahmed, who is accused of killing two teenagers in March 2017, to March 3.
This plea which came up on Wednesday and was taken virtually saw Justice Kanyi Kimondo to Thursday February 9, 2023 pending his ruling on whether he will allow his prosecution or not.
The prosecutor told the court that there was no mental assessment report of the dreaded Pangani Police Station ‘crime buster’ who was popular in Eastleigh. The court also heard his application challenging his plea taking.
Sergent Rashid who appeared before court virtually said he was in Garissa attending to a family issue.
Kimondo then ordered Rashid to present himself to the County Criminal Investigation Officer (CCIO) Garissa, who was to escort him back to Nairobi for mental assessment at Mathari Mental Hospital.
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Kimondo further said thereafter he can be granted bond by the officer commanding station.
Sgt Rashid is accused of murdering Jamal Mohamed and Dahir Kheri on March 31, 2017 within Eastleigh Nairobi County.
He is loved and hated in equal measure in Eastleigh and Mathare, Nairobi over his modus operandi of addressing various forms of crime.
He had managed to contain crime levels in the area during which some locals complained he applied extra-judicial means.
Last year he filed a petition to court, wanting the ODPP to review the decision to charge him for the murder and pending determination of his suit he wants the DPP barred from charging him.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, he argues that IPOA summoning him is a well-choreographed plan to fix him without any lawful basis.
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His lawyer wants the court to hear his application seeking to stop the plea taking.
He indicates that on the day he is alleged to have executed the minors, he was within Eastleigh area 1st Avenue when a signal was circulated over the police radio of an ongoing robbery at Amal Plaza. He says the robbery was being done at a stall belonging to Al Nur Osman through a petition a police report made by the victim.
As part of his lawful duty to maintain law and order, he says he rushed to the scene of the robbery and came face to face with the armed robbers. There were several other police officers who had heeded the signal at the scene of the robbery.
“The petitioner and his colleagues had been trailing the robbers who on the same date of the incident had robbed several known persons,” reads court papers.
He has sued IPOA, DPP, IG and Eastleigh Business Community as in the case. The respondents are yet file their responses.
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