Prosecution
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) in Narok County has chided human rights activists and a section of politicians for instigating the prosecution of murder suspects before proper investigations are carried out.
Head of Prosecutions in Narok County Gitonga Murang’a said proper evidence is required before charging a murder suspect, so that the case can be sustained in court. “There has to be enough grounds for linking the suspect to the murder or else we will be charging the wrong people and leaving the real criminals to continue with their dirty game,” he said.
Murang’a cited the murder case of Hillary Ololdapash, whose body was found dumped at Muslim cemetery by unknown people adding that human rights activists are pushing his office to prosecute five people arrested in connection to the murder.
He said the evidence gathered so far does not link the five people in custody to the murder. Murang’a reiterated the five were arrested under circumstantial evidence as they were among the last people who were in the company of the deceased. “If we continue pushing for the five to be prosecuted, then we will go ahead as an office and prosecute them without proper evidence and I can assure you the case will flop.
But if we allow investigations to be done first before we charge the suspects, then the five will act as key witnesses in the case,” he continued. He revealed they were able to get credible information from the five who were arrested, which could lead to the arrest of the murderers.
“It is important to allow the institutions of criminal justice to carry out their work, but if we are pushed by the public to make a decision in the way they want, we will be compromising our professionalism,” he said. He asked members of the public to embrace dialogue in case they feel something fishy is happening in the cases that involve them.
“If you are not satisfied with our decisions, then we request you to visit our offices and we can discuss the matter together,” he said. Murang’a decried the increased cases of murder in the town but said no group of people or a person has been linked to them so far.
His sentiments come at a time when Narok youths had threatened to protest over the release of five murder suspects from custody.