Witness tells court deputy OCS was nabbed while taking bribe

Joseph Kyumba Muia, a resident of Kisauni, was on the roof of a house and in the process of demolishing it when the deputy OCS of Kiembeni Police Station arrived on a motorbike, pointed a gun at him, arrested and locked him in police cells.

Mr Muia said the order to demolish the house allegedly came from Kenya Power who argued that the structure was dangerously built near a power line.

Deputy OCS John Musiomi Shikondi then arrived and pointed a gun at him and ordered him to come down from the roof of the building.

“I was handcuffed and escorted to the police station. Chief Inspector Shikondi pointed a gun at me after alighting from the motorbike that had brought him to the scene,” he said.

CALL FAMILY

Along the way as they headed to the police station, they branched off to a club where the deputy OCS then asked him to call his family to inform them that he had been arrested and that they needed to come rescue him.

Mr Muia then called his wife, who arrived at the club accompanied by a neighbour. They stayed there for about an hour before he was escorted to the police station.

“I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was not with them since shortly after my family arrived, they held talks away from where I was,” he said.

IN COURT

After an hour, his family left and he was escorted to the police station where he stayed for a while before being presented at a Shanzu law court.

At the court, he was neither charged with any offence nor his name called out among the many suspects who were arraigned that day.

Mr Muia was later taken back to the police station where he was released after paying a cash bail of Sh5,000 for which he was not given a receipt.

“I was not called again until I received a call from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) telling me that I was required to record a statement,” he told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nacholi.

He later learnt that Mr Shikondi, who had arrested him, was now facing corruption charges, accused of asking for a Sh40,000 bribe from Chiro Gari to facilitate his release from police cells.

SH10,000 BRIBE

The Deputy OCS is also charged with asking for a bribe of Sh10,000 from Martin Chiponda.

He is also accused of receiving Sh8,000 from Mr Chiponda in order to release Mr Muia without pressing charges against him.

The deputy OCS is accused of committing the offences on January 7 and 8, 2018 at Kiembeni Police Station and Billionaire Club respectively.

Testifying in the matter, Mr Gari told the court that the senior police officer asked him to give Sh40,000 as a bribe to secure the release of Mr Muia.

“When I went to make an inquiry, the suspect told me it was not necessary to press charges against Muia. He said there was an alternative way in which the matter could be solved, that is, I give him Sh40,000,” he said.

RECORD STATEMENT

The witness claimed that he declined and asked the suspect to allow Muia to record a statement and be charged if he had committed any offence.

Mr Gori said that after some push and pull, the officer said he could take the Sh10,000 that he (Gari) had suggested.

“I told him I am poor and I could not afford the money he was asking for. I told him I only had Sh10,000 which he accepted,” he added.

Samuel Murage, an officer from EACC told the court that after receiving complaints from Gari that the officer was demanding a bribe, he mobilised a team of officers to investigate and arrest the suspect.

RECORDED CONVERSATION

He said they fitted Mr Gari with devices that recorded his conversations with the suspect and sent him to go and negotiate the bribe with the suspect.

“We sat at a hotel and watched as Gari and the suspect conversed and settled at a corner within the club where the officer took the money,” he said.

The witness said they pounced on the suspect as soon as he was about to leave the scene, disarmed him and recovered the bribe money which he still had in his hands.

Mr Shikondi was then taken to Port Police Station.

The matter will be mentioned on April 4, 2019.