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Policeman charged with assaulting his boss while effecting curfew

By Joseph Ndunda December 4th, 2020 2 min read

A police officer who allegedly clobbered his boss and broke his arm in the presence of his wife and neighbours while enforcing Covid-19 curfew was charged with causing him grievous harm.

Constable Evans Mithika of Mawe Mbili police post in Ruai is accused of seriously injuring inspector Bernard Mochama of Administration Police Service’s Security of Government Buildings (SGB) Unit at Chokaa area in Njiru, Nairobi on May 26.

Mithika was arraigned at Milimani and became the first police officer to be charged with torturing a colleague.

He also became the first officer to be charged following investigations by the National Police Service’s Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) since its inception in 2013.

Mochama had been dropped by a motorcycle rider and was hurrying to beat the curfew when he was stopped by Mithika and his colleague who asked him to identify himself and state where he was coming from.

He showed them his NPS certificate of appointment but they reportedly forced him to sit down and his efforts to provide more identifications were met with hostility from his two juniors.

Sensing he was about to be tortured, Mochama took off towards his home, 100 metres away, but the two cops pursued him to his gate, which he unfortunately found locked.

The two are alleged to have then assaulted their senior in the presence of his wife and neighbors then called for reinforcement after members of public tried to intervene.

Mochama was escorted to Ruai police station where he was set free by the suspects’ seniors following a brief interrogation by the station commander and other senior officers.

The matter was reported to IAU which commenced a probe and found the two, Mithika and his colleague, to have acted in violation of service standing orders and committed a crime.

IAU recommended charges of causing grievous harms against the two to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which concurred with the unit paving way for their arrest.

Mithika was summoned to IAU offices in Upperhill where he was arrested on arrival.

He denied the charges before chief magistrate Martha Mutuku and was freed on a Sh300,000 bond and an alternative cash bail of Sh100,000.