A senior police officer faced a setback after a court issued an arrest warrant. The warrant was for not appearing in court for an unlawful determination case.Magistrate Lucas Onyina issued the order against Rebecca Njeri Muraya. She is the officer in charge of Eastleigh North Police Station. Muraya is charged alongside Sergeant Abdisalam Ahmed from the same station. They both failed to appear in court for directions.
Through his co-accused, Ahmed told Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina that Muraya called him. She said she was sick
“Your honor Muraya called me to inform that she was sick,” Ahmed told the court.
The court noted that Muraya did not have a lawyer to explain why she missed her court date.State prosecutor Joyce Olajo asked the court to ignore claims of illness. She said there was no proof provided.”The court cannot assume the claims are true since no evidence was shown. Her lawyer also did not come to explain why she missed court. We ask the court to issue a warrant for her arrest,” Olajo said.Simon Mburu, the lawyer for the complainant, asked the court to consider how long the case has been delayed.”Your honor, this case has been delayed for three years. The complainant has not received justice. I ask the court to speed up the process,” Mburu said.
In giving directions, the magistrate issued a warrant of arrest against Muraya stating no evidence adduced before the court to support the claim of ailment,
“I hereby issue a warrant of arrest against the first accused person for there is no evidence produced to prove she is sick,” the magistrate ruled.
The two officers were jointly charged with illegal detention and torturing a British national one Ayni Hussein Mahammud.
They were charged that on December 31, 2021, at Eastleigh North Police Station intentionally and unlawfully jointly ordered the arrest of Ayni Hussein Mahammud and detained her at Muthaiga Police Station for two days.
The court was told that the detention was to intimidate Mahammud from pursuing her complaint of assault against Abdihakim Said Jama.
The two also faced with another offence of abuse of office contrary to the law.
The prosecution told the court that the duo unlawfully and without sufficient cause and reason arrested Mahammud and detained her at Muthaiga Police Station.
The matter has been delayed since then prosecution seeking time to review the files they claim to emanate from same complainant but reported from different entities.
For three consecutive times, the prosecution had been seeking for adjournment of the matter for 30 days to review of the said files and give directions.
While seeking for a warrant against Muraya, Olajo told the court that the file is in the office of the director of public prosecution for review and they had no directions on the same,
“Your honor we pray for more time for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to give the way forward on the matter,” she prayed.
The magistrate admitted the prayers sought by the prosecution to grant the ODPP two weeks for reviewing of the file,
“The adjournment of the matter for two weeks is hereby allowed. The matter will be mentioned on May 19, 2025, for directions,” the magistrate directed.
