Court throws out petition by police officers in Baby Pendo case » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 25 — The High Court has dismissed the petition filed by 12 police contesting their charges over the 2017 murder of Baby Pendo in Kisumu County at the height of post-election protests.
The suspects — twelve police officers — filed a petition on November 9, 2022 arguing that the High Court had no jurisdiction to handle the charges under the International Crimes Act.
On Thursday, High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo ruled that a single judge of the High Court can handle the matter as it is properly under the court’s jurisdiction.
He also upheld the decision to charge by the Director of Public Prosecutions and ordered the suspect to take plea on October 3.
“For all those reasons, I find that the suspects have failed to prove that their rights under Articles 27, 28, 29, 47, 48, 50 and 73 have been violated merely by the decision to charge or by the nature of the charges now preferred against them,” read the court papers.
He said the argument in the petition by the officers is not a proper bar to taking the plea.
The judge declared that all questions of law and evidence fall within the trial court’s jurisdiction, including whether the accusations qualify as international crimes, if the accused were commanders, and whether the police personnel under their command performed ineffectively.
“It will be for the trial court to determine issues of admissibility, relevance, or standard of proof,” Kimondo said on the question of who bears the highest responsibility.
Command responsibility
Police commanders bear the responsibility for the actions and inactions of their juniors under their command.
Baby Pendo died in August 2017 reportedly clobbered on the head by police who stormed her parents’ house.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had in October 2022 approved murder charges against 12 police commanders.
This is after the Independent Policing Oversight Authority conducted its investigations and a magistrate ruled the suspects had a case to answer following an inquest.
The suspects are Titus Yoma, Titus Mutune, John Chengo, Linah Kogey, Benjamin Koima, Benjamin Lorema, Volker Edambo, Cyprine Robi, Josphat Sensira, Mohammed Ali Guyo, Mohammed Baa and James Rono.
Mohammed Baa has remained at large and the court issued a warrant of arrest against him.
Justice Kimondo sustained the warrant in his decision on Thursday and orderd his production alongside others suspecst on October 3 to take plea.
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