News22 July 2026 - 09:17

From SUV to police vehicle: CCTV reconstructs Albert Ojwang's final hours at Central Police

The footage played in court showed Ojwang arriving at Central Police Station accompanied by six men

by JAMES GICHIGI

Audio By Vocalize

The High Court in Kibera on Tuesday watched CCTV footage reconstructing the final hours of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang at Central Police Station during a lengthy hearing.

An Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) forensic expert told the court the recordings showed Ojwang arriving at the station in a SUV before later being carried out "seemingly unresponsive."

Joshua Mutua, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority's head of forensics and crime scene investigations, told Justice Diana Kavedza that investigators recovered about 489GB of CCTV footage from the station but prepared a smaller extract for court.

"We recovered around 489GB data but found it would take around one week to view the footage. For purposes of following the matter, we prepared a brief of 40.1GB," Mutua testified.

He added that the footage was subjected to forensic analysis to verify its authenticity.

Earlier in the session, Mutua told the court the footage would demonstrate that "Albert Ojwang arrived while able to walk within Central Police Station and seemed to be making phone calls."

"I will also demonstrate, as per the footage, by the time Albert left Central Police Station he was unresponsive," he said.

The footage played in court showed Ojwang arriving at Central Police Station at 9.23pm, accompanied by six men.

Mutua identified Ojwang in the footage by his clothing, telling the court he was dressed in a football jersey, beach trousers and open shoes.

"All this time Albert is seen engaging in a phone call," Mutua said.

The footage showed Ojwang being escorted into the report office, where he remained seated for about 15 minutes as police officers moved in and out of the area.

At about 9.38pm, the ipoa officer said the footage captured one, Police Constable Peter Kimani escorting Ojwang from the holding bay towards the prisoners' processing area before taking him to the cells.

Around the same period, he said the footage showed police officers and other individuals moving around the corridor leading to what investigators referred to as the last cell, which Mutua identified as the crime scene.

The court heard that one of the accused officers, constable James Mukhwana, signalled another officer, constable John Ngige to open the first cell on the right in the corridor before the fifth accused person, an inmate Jin Ammitou, was called out.

The three then, the Ipoa officer narrated, walked directly to the last cell, where one of them remained for a short period.

At 10.46pm, the footage showed Ojwang being taken towards the last cell by several men, including police officers and two unidentified individuals.

"We see Albert Ojwang being taken towards the crime scene cell by PC James Mukhwana (one of the accused persons), a goatee-bearded man (an unidentified individual), PC John Ngige, and the unidentified man wearing a Maasai shuka," Mutua testified while narrating the footage.

As the video played, Justice Kavedza observed that Ojwang appeared to lose his balance after hitting a wall as he was forced into the cell.

Over the next several minutes, the footage captured repeated movement in and out of the last cell.

At around 10.56 p.m., State Prosecutor Jalson Makori drew the court's attention to footage showing an individual, emerging from the last cell with what appeared to be a reddish substance on his right hand.

Mutua testified that the individual appeared to be Police Constable John Ngige.

The witness also pointed out one individual making several trips between the washrooms and the last cell while carrying a yellow jerrican, whom he identified as Gin Ammitou, one of the accused persons.

Other people were seen entering and leaving the area surrounding the cell before one officer, whom Mutua identified as Mukhwana, unlocked another cell and used the light from his mobile phone to look inside the last cell.

The witness also identified footage showing another officer, constable Peter Kimani approaching the last cell, looking inside and then running towards the prisoners' processing area while holding his phone.

Several officers were later captured converging at the last cell before leaving moments later.

Mutua testified that Chief Inspector Samson Talaam, Inspector Samuel Nganga and other uniformed officers later appeared at the scene.

At about 1.10 a.m., four officers were captured carrying what the witness described as an apparently lifeless Albert Ojwang from the last cell.

The officers were captured wearing what appeared to be gloves.

The group briefly stopped at the prisoners' processing area before carrying him to a police vehicle.

According to Mutua, Ojwang was placed alone at the back of the vehicle, while Inspector Nganga, another officer and the driver occupied the front cabin.

"He is captured being carried by four uniformed police officers from the cells, placed at the back of a police vehicle alone, seemingly unresponsive."

The CCTV footage showed the vehicle leaving Central Police Station at 1.26am.

Mutua told the court no officer was captured seated in the rear compartment of the vehicle where Ojwang had been placed.

Standing trial are former Central Police Station Officer Commanding Station (OCS) Chief Inspector Samson Kiprotich Talaam, Police Constable James Mukhwana, Police Constable Peter Kimani, John Ngige Gitau, Gin Ammitou Abwao and Brian Mwaniki Njue.

They have all denied the murder charges.

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