Rex Masai Inquest: Central officer in charge of armoury admits altering firearms register
Corporal Fredrick Odera Okapesi, officer in charge of the Central Police Station armoury, has admitted that the firearms register was altered.
Appearing before Milimani Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on Monday, September 1, 2025, Corporal Okapesi informed the court that he was responsible for the alteration.
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Okapesi told the court that his action came after he discovered that the previous page in the register had not been filled up completely.
He said that on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, while issuing the firearms, starting with Corporal Martin Kithinji, who was in charge of the undercover team, he noticed the previous pages had unfilled spaces.
Notably, he noted that leaving the spaces unfilled was dangerous, prompting him to first fill them, leading to the cancellation of the previous details.
“On June 19, 2024, which was on Wednesday in the morning, as I was issuing firearms to police officers, I realised the previous page had not been filled completely,” Corporal Okapesi told the court.
“I am the one who made the alterations that morning. This is a manually generated register; it’s my own handwriting, and I can make a mistake; it’s human,” Officer Okapesi told the court.
Further, he dismissed any attempt at a cover-up through the alteration of the register of who shot the late activist Masai.
Corporal Okapesi added that Officer Kithinji had already signed for his firearm before he made the alterations in the register.
The armoury also told the court that officer Simon Waweru did not sign for the firearm he took for that day’s operations.
During the court proceedings, the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) prosecutor Makori revealed that Okapesi had mentioned officer Benson Kamau several times in his statement.
“You have mentioned Kamau in all paragraphs of your statements; why this particular officer?” Prosecutor Makori asked Okapesi.
Okapesi said that this was because Kamau came into the limelight after it was allegedly said he had shot someone during the protests.
“He came to my office and told me that people are attacking him on his personal Facebook account, seeking advice from me,” Okapesi told the court.
He told the court that he advised him to relax and ignore what was going on in social media, and he decided to delete his Facebook account.
The inquest resumes on September 15, 2025, at 2 pm with six more witnesses expected to testify.
