NAIROBI,Kenya, May 27 – Two administration police officers William Chirchir (36) and Godfrey Kirui (28) have been sentenced to seven years in jail after they were found guilty of killing a woman in 2018, at the City Park in Nairobi county.
Appearing before High Court Judge Stella Mutuku, the officers were deemed to have used forced that was unproportional to what they considered a threat.
Justice Mutuku ruled that no crime had been committed and the deceased, Janet Waiyaki and her nephew Benard Chege posed no threat to the officers.
“They behaved rashly and opened fire with the intent to kill. They broke the rules when they used their weapons to stop the vehicle. I believe there were other ways to intercept the car and they also broke the law requiring them to protect life,” said Justice Mutuku.
Chirchir and Kirui had requested for a non-custodial sentence but the court ruled that the punishment did not fit the crime since a life was lost.
The two police officers killed Janet Wangui Waiyaki and shot her nephew Bernard Chege, while they were in a car and claimed that they were responding to a terror alert.
It was established that Wangui and Bernard had not resisted attempts by the police to arrest them with the courts on May 11, finding the two guilty of manslaughter.
Chris Waiyaki, the deceased’s brother says the family can now rest easy with justice being served.
“Some of these matters take forever to be heard and determined but finally four years down the corridors of justice, we have had the ruling, judgment, sentencing and conclusion of Janet’s murder and law suit.” said Chris.
“The family has been strong, they have gone through so much trauma, it was hard for them to come and attend this case and also to follow through but we got justice in the long run despite police interference in this case. The judge noted in her judgement that there was a lot of police interference with evidence but despite that we were able to get justice,albeit not what the family expected. It is a good day for justice” said Edward Mbanya, IJM Advocate, victim’s lawyer
The court found that their actions were reckless, with no justification since there was no threat to their lives or that of other people.
-Who are the two officers? –
Police constable Chirchir has been in the police service for 10 years and according to his lawyer, “he doesn’t have a previous record.”
“He has tried to serve this country to his very best. He is married to a 35-year-old, has two children aged 7 years and 1 year old respectively.”
Officer Kirui is aged 28 years and has been in the police service for 6 years.
He is also a father of two children aged 2 and 4 years respectively.
The sentencing of Chirchir and Korir comes barely two months after another police officer was found guilty and convicted for the murder of a fisherman in Naivasha in 2014.
In both cases, International Justice Mission (IJM-K) represented victims in court.
IJM Kenya Country Director Benson Shamala said the conviction of the two is yet another big step in holding errant police officers to account for using excessive force against unarmed citizens.
Shamala said the conviction sends a message that those in power will be held accountable in court if they abuse it.
“We will continue to demand for accountability for any errant police officer who violates the law,”said Shamala.
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