Court declines video evidence in lawyer Willie Kimani murder case

Director of Public Prosecution has suffered a blow after the high court declined to admit video evidence which reconstructs the crime scene where lawyer Willie Kimani, his client, a bodaboda operator Josephat Mwendwa and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri, were kidnapped and killed.

Justice Jessie Lessit on Monday ruled that the forensic officer who recoded the said video did not follow out of court evidence rules.

According to the judge, the forensic officer should not have been involved in the scene but ought to have taken another qualified person to do the recording. 

“The law requires that when the officer decides to have the suspect take him to the scene and record, he has to take another qualified officer. He cannot be involved during the exercise,” ruled the judge.

 “Being the one interviewing and taking the recording was a blunder. It was an action that required to be subjected to the rules of law. I note there was no compliance to the evidence taken out of court,” she ruled.

 In the video reconstruction scene, police informant who confessed to having assisted administration police officers to brutally kill the three explained how the said murders were hatched and executed in 2016.

The DVD containing 47 minutes 48 seconds video footage was shown to court on Tuesday last week  by forensic officer, Joseph Muindi who recorded it from Peter Ngugi.