Justin Nyatete, a principal investigative officer attached to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), has told court that police did not cooperate during deceased Rex Masai investigations.

Appearing before Milimani Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on Thursday, May 28, 2026, Nyatete said that they did all they could, but the National Police Service (NPS) failed to cooperate with them.

“Your honour, we did what we could, but we found non-cooperation from the police,” Nyatete told the court.

“Your honour, we have demonstrated before you the steps that we took as the authority, but those steps were pre-undermined by the National Police Service,” Nyatete added.

He has further revealed that due to the failure of police cooperation, they did not get the bullet that fatally injured Masai because it exited.

The officer also told the court that they could not link that bullet with the two pistols that they had identified.

Officer Nyatete also raised concern about testimonies tendered by some police officers who told court that on the day Masai was killed, demonstrators were chased by criminals, not police officers.In addition, he has said that if indeed demonstrators were chased by the said criminals, then police should have arrested and arraigned them in court.

“Your honour, the responsibility of the National Police Service (NPS) is to protect the public, yet according to what they purported to tell this court, those were criminals whom they did not apprehend to present them before court,” Officer Nyatete stated.

The court also heard that NPS refused to produce the operational order and officers’ deployment schedule as requested by the investigating team through a court order served to them.

“Your honour, we (IPOA) requested an operational order and deployment schedule, but they failed to provide it, raising questions on how they deployed their officers,” Officer Nyatete told the court.

According to Officer Nyatete, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) also admitted that they could not account for the officers they deployed in civilian clothes during the June 2024 anti-finance demonstrations.

“It is a serious admission from none other than the DIG himself that they failed to account for their officers whom they deployed, and our investigators could not know those officers who were in civilian clothes chasing the demonstrators,” Nyatete told the court.