Rex Masai murder case: Witness tells court how police dismissed efforts to help protestor
A Nairobi court was on Thursday, March 13, 2025, told that police rejected a plea from a protester to help an unidentified man who was fighting for his life lying on the road and told protesters to let him die at the scene.
A boda boda rider, Laban Njoroge Njoki from Zambezi, a witness and among the Gen Zs who participated in the anti-finance bill protests in June 2024, testified that the police rubbished the call for help.
Further, Njoroge said that the police ignored the call for help from a fellow protester to help a friend and loosely responded, ‘Wacha akufie hapo.’
“The man was asking the police for help when they responded to him, ‘Wacha akufie hapo,” Njoroge told the court.
Appearing before Milimani Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo, Njoroge said that the protests in the Central Business District (CBD) turned violent later in the day when they were on their way home after a group of police came on board to disperse them.
Witness account
Notably, Njoroge told the court that an attempt of him and his friend Mekatilili to hide in one of the buildings in town failed, and police officers followed them to the places they had scampered for safety and beat them severely.
He said that the security guards at the building they ran to for safety refused to open the gate for them, and the police found them.
“The police followed us and beat us mercilessly until they were satisfied and left us fighting for our lives,” Njoroge told the court.
Additionally, Njoroge told the court that from the beating he was left with injuries in his hand, head, and pelvis.
However, Njoroge said that he did not witness any police shooting a live bullet, and also he cannot say whether there were police in civilian clothes that day.
Lawyer Jalson Makori, representing the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), sought the Friday, March 14, 2025, proceedings to be adjourned to a further date.
He told the court that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) needed some more time to get hold of important documents to be used in the next hearing.
There are 10 more witnesses expected to testify and shed light on the happenings of the day Rex was killed, including the Central Police Station OCS, Kamukunji Police Station OCS, and the officer who was in charge of the armoury at the Central Police Station.
The remaining witnesses will testify on May 12, 2025, starting at 10am, and then on June 9, 2025, and June 19, 2025.
