The police failed to present before court businessman Philip Aroko who is being held in connection with killing of Kasipul MP Charles Were.
The police were on Thursday, May 8, expected to present the businessman, who they say is a person of interest in the matter, before JKIA Law Courts.
Aroko's lawyer Danstan Omari protested the police action, accusing them of violating the rights of his client.
Aroko was summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on the night of Wednesday, May 7, with the authorities terming him a person of interest in their investigations.
After presenting himself and a subsequent detention at the Kasarani Police Station, it was widely expected hat Aroko would be arraigned on Thursday.
But this was not the case, with Aroko's lawyer Omari accusing the police of attempting to sabotage his client's freedom.
"The mischief in this matter is that our client is being held away from the courts so that we don’t make an application for him to attend the burial," Omari said, referring to the burial plans for the late MP.
Aroko's legal team further argued that the state had failed to disclose when Aroko was officially booked in the Occurrence Book (OB), further raising questions about procedural transparency in the investigations.
Omari said failure by the police to produce Aroko within 24 hours of his arrest is a violation of his rights.
"If he surrendered at 10 pm, he was supposed to be in court today," Omari observed.
"Failure to produce him in court today means the earliest he will appear is Friday at 9 am, since courts don’t operate at night. This delay is intentional; it is meant to ensure he doesn’t attend the burial," Omari added.
The court subsequently directed police to explain the whereabouts of Aroko, while also providing a clear update on the status of investigations.
Regarding the murder, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja issued an update on Thursday, revealing that authorities had positively identified the murder weapon used to end the late MP's life.
The weapon is also believed to have been used in other crimes as recently as on April 26.
As of Thursday, 10 suspects were in police custody in connection with the murder, including the late MP's driver and bodyguard. Five were presented in court on Thursday, and a ruling is set to me made by Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi on Friday at 10 am.
Meanwhile the body of the late MP was flown to his native Homa Bay on Thursday ahead of his burial ceremony a day later.
