This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
On June 22, 2020, a divided Court of Appeal quashed a death sentence imposed on two police officers, Benjamin Changawa and Stanley Okoti, who had been condemned to death by the High Court in November 2018 for murdering their colleague, Administration Police Constable Joseph Obongo Onchuru, and his two relatives, Geoffrey Nyabuto Mogoi and Amos Okenye Makori.
The officers were found guilty of killing the three people in cold blood at M-Club in Kangemi, Nairobi, on October 6, 2014. The Court of Appeal judges reduced the sentence to 10 years in jail, citing the officers' clean records of service and their status as first offenders.
According to the judges, the murder incident was a reckless use of firearms by the police, leading to the senseless loss of lives of three innocent people. The officers had responded to a robbery report at the club, but instead of using non-violent means to arrest the victims, they opened fire, killing all three instantly.
The trial judge, Stella Mutuku, had sentenced the officers to death, saying they should have used non-violent means to arrest the victims. She was disturbed by attempts to interfere with the scene of crime and described the defence's claim that Mr. Onchuru shot himself as ridiculous.
