The High Court on Thursday issued a warrant of arrest against a senior police officer allegedly involved in the death of Baby Samantha Pendo who was reportedly shot during the post-election violence in 2017.
Lady Justice Lilian Mutende directed the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to apprehend the officer and present him before the court to take a plea. According to the judge, the accused had severally failed to attend court proceedings despite the warrants issued against him.
The suspect had been charged alongside his colleagues for crimes against humanity including alleged murder relating to the unlawful killing of Baby Pendo in Kisumu’s Nyalenda slums.
The prosecution, while addressing the court, noted that the charges against the officer were instituted under the International Crimes Act, 2008, considering the role he played based on the international law principle of superior responsibility.
Entrance to Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.
Photo
The Judiciary of Kenya.
During the proceedings, the prosecutor informed the court that all the accused persons had to be present before the plea could be taken and that the policeman’s absence would not be in the interest of justice.
“The DPP has directed that we inform this honourable court that all suspects must be present before the plea can be taken. The DPP intends to make an opening statement outlining the role each of each accused person in the commission of the said offences,” the prosecutor told the court.
Insisting on the matter, the prosecutor emphasised the significance of the case noting that it was the first time the State would be prosecuting anyone under the International Crimes Act and based on the principle of superior responsibility, thus the need to ensure that the process is handled correctly from the start.
Despite the prosector’s demand, the suspect’s counsel called on the court to proceed with the case in the absence of the officer because the accused was well-represented.
In response to the victims’ counsel’s insistence that the plea had to proceed without the suspect, the court reiterated that the power to prosecute is vested in the Director of Public Prosecutor (DPP).
The court, in its directive, set the fresh plea date for November 5, 2024, when the police officer would be produced in court in compliance with the warrants of arrest previously issued.
In July this year, the High Court dismissed the petition filed by 12 police officers contesting their charges over the 2017 murder of Baby Pendo in Kisumu County at the height of post-election protests. The petitioners argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction to handle the charges under the International Crimes Act.
“For all those reasons, I find that the suspects have failed to prove that their rights under Articles 27, 28, 29, 47, 48, 50 and 73 have been violated merely by the decision to charge or by the nature of the charges now preferred against them,” the court noted.
Photo of Baby Pendo who died in 2017.
The Standard
