Former Special Service Unit (SSU) officer John Macharia and his 14 co-accused are expected to know their fate on May 30, 2025 on whether the murder charges against them will be quashed.
The Kiambu High Court on Wednesday March 26, 2025 fixed the date after hearing submissions from both the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the defense lawyers led by Steve Ogolla on the petition filed challenging prosecution of the officers with murder charges
The accused individuals, including Macharia, are implicated in the abduction and subsequent disappearance of two Indian nationals Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan and Mohammed Zaid Sami and their Kenyan taxi driver, Nicodemus Mwania Mwange, between July 22 and July 23, 2022, in Nairobi County.
The victims were last seen near the Southern Bypass close to the Ole Sereni Hotel.
Investigations into the missing of the trio suggest that the officers from the disbanded SSU trailed the victims from Nairobi to the Aberdares National Park in Nyeri County, where their whereabouts remain unknown todate.
The officers were later charged with abductions and killing of the three individuals.
Aggrieved by the decision by the DPP Renson Ingonga to recommend they be prosecuted with murder charges, the officers led by Macharia lodged a petition seeking to overturn their prosecution.
During hearing of the case, defence lawyer Ogolla argued that the murder charges should be quashed due to the absence of concrete evidence proving the victims’ deaths.
He emphasized that the DPP failed to provide a certificate of death or substantial circumstantial evidence linking the accused to the alleged murders.
Ogolla contended that charging the officers without such evidence was erroneous, arbitrary, and oppressive, violating public policy.
He invoked Article 165(3)(d) of the Constitution, which empowers the High Court to review decisions made by lower courts or tribunals, suggesting that the DPP’s decision to charge was made in bad faith or contrary to the law.
In contrast, the prosecution has applied the “last seen with” doctrine, which presumes that individuals last seen with a deceased person are responsible for their death unless they provide an explanation.
The state prosecutor urged the court to dismiss the case and allow the officers face full trial as they will be given an opportunity to defend themselves.
The court also heard that it would be unjust to terminate or quash the murder charges without giving the trial court a chance to evaluate the evidence to be tendered by the prosecution witnesses.
Currently, in the abduction case pending at Kahawa Law Courts the prosecution has since presented tracking logs and call data records placing the officers at the scene of the crime and along the route leading to the Aberdares National Park.
Detective Kennedy Ndeto from the Internal Affairs Unit testified that the vehicles used by the accused entered the park through the Treetops gate at 6:34 pm on July 23, 2022.
Ndeto also noted that call data records placed the accused in various locations of interest, including the SSU offices in the Old Nairobi area and along the Nairobi-Nyeri road, specifically at Mweiga in Nyeri, en route to the Aberdares.
The case has undergone several procedural developments.
Initially, the trial officers commenced at Kahawa Law Courts where they faces abductions charges but was later prosecuted at Kiambu High Court with fresh murder charges.
In December 2024, the Kiambu High Court extended the remand for the officers, who have been in custody since November 2022, pending trial.
