For the third time, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and the Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Muhammad Amin have defied court summons, again.
Alternatively, the two have filed an application seeking the court summons to be set aside while arguing that they were not properly served as per the judges’ directions.
On January 8, 2025, and January 13, 2025, High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ordered Kanja and Amin to personally appear in court on Friday, January 17, 2025.
Kanja and Amin were summoned to court to shed light on the missing of three men in Mlolongo, Machakos county in December 2024.
Notably, Mwita ordered Kanja and Amin on January 13, 2025, to release the three men immediately or bring their bodies to Milimani court on Friday, January 17, 2025.
“In the alternative, the Inspector General of Police and the Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to personally present before the court the bodies of Justus Mutumwa, Martin Mwau and Karani Muema on January 17, 2025 at 10am,” judge Mwita’s order read.
However, lawyer Paul Nyamodi, representing the Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Amin Muhammad and Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja told the court that the missing men are not in police custody, and cannot be produced by his clients as ordered by Judge Mwita in the previous proceedings.
“There is no allegation that the petitioners are in the custody of the National Police Service but your Lordship has issued orders to the National Police Service to produce them,” Nyamodi told the court.
Meanwhile, as the proceedings went on, the court was informed that a kin of the three men had been barred from attending the court proceedings at the Milimani High Courts, and it took the intervention of lawyer Dan Maanzo, representing the families, for them to follow the Friday proceedings.
Kanja and Amin were required to honour the summons of two different judges to address the rise of abductions of young people in different areas of the country. Summons that they didn’t honour.
On January 23, 2025, Judge Mwita will be determining whether the Inspector General of Police and the Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations were properly served with the court orders to attend court and free the three men.
