The public inquest into the death of university student Mercy Keino resumed yester- day amidst blame games. The office of the Director of Public Prosecution and the po- lice blamed each other over the failure to produce witnesses in the inquest.
Senior state counsel Moses Omirera, representing the DPP, told magistrate Peter Ndwiga he has lined 65 witnesses to tes- tify, but the police have done lit- tle to bring them before court.
Omirera said the failure by police to bond the witnesses to testify in the high-profiled in- quest will jeopardise his case. “They are known witnesses yet they have not been bonded to attend court simply because there are other issues.
I may be forced to close this case with- out calling all the witnesses,” he said. The lawyer was responding after investigating officer James Otieno informed the court that he had brought one witness - a senior police officer who inves- tigated the case.
Otieno refuted claims by the DPP’s office that he is reserving some witnesses. Although he admitted hav- ing difficulties in bonding wit- nesses, Otieno accused Omirera of calling witnesses in a certain sequence.
Omirera has told court that he intends to call Kabogo, his bodyguard and his driver, all who have been adversely men- tioned by other witnesses.
Kabogo, his bodyguard and driver are among the last people who saw Keino before her body was recovered at Nairobi’s Wai- yaki Way.
Yesterday, Japheth Maingi, a senior police officer who conducted investigations into Keino’s death, said she might have died from a hit and run accident.
The officer however said he could not rule out a possibility that the former Nairobi univer- sity student might have been killed elsewhere and her body dumped on the road.
“I relied on a witness who said she saw a body being run over by a car on Waiyaki Way. There is possibility the lady may have been killed elsewhere and her body dumped there,” Maingi said.
Maingi said he was directed by police boss Antony Kibuchi to take over the matter after Kericho senator-elect Charles Keter complained that she may have been killed elsewhere. The inquest resumed yester- day after a break a four months. It will proceed on April 2
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