This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
On December 17, 2019, the body of Court of Appeal Judge James Otieno Aggrey Odek was discovered in his residential apartment in Kisumu.
According to investigators, the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the apartment were dysfunctional for the past week, which may have hindered the investigation.
A clash emerged between the caretaker of the Groove Hut apartments and criminal investigations officers over the state of the CCTV cameras at the time of the judge's death.
The caretaker, Mr. William Nyandara, claimed that the CCTV cameras had been dysfunctional for some time, while investigators stated that they had reviewed the footage and found nothing unusual.
Mr. Nyandara explained that the CCTV cameras had developed problems earlier, but he had ordered the manager to have them repaired, only to learn later that the repairs were not done.
Investigations are ongoing, with the police collecting the judge's phones for analysis and recording statements from the security guards.
The Law Society of Kenya expressed shock at the judge's death, describing him as a perceptive judge and a scholar of unparalleled legal familiarity.
