A senior police officer defended his former colleagues, accused of murdering Wycliffe Vincent Owuor, a suspect in the Sh72 million Nairobi West ATM heist in Nairobi.
He insisted that the fatal shooting at Kayole Junction in March 2020 was a lawful response to an armed robbery in progress.
Chief Inspector Denis Omuko, currently attached to the National Police College in Kiganjo as an instructor, told the High Court in Nairobi that at the time of the incident, he was the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) Kayole.
Omuko testified that on March 21, 2020, at about 2:30 p.m., he received a distress call from the Nairobi Area Police Control Room reporting that three armed men were robbing members of the public near Kayole Junction.
“I mobilized three teams from Kayole 8, Kayole 4, and the Obama crew to respond to the robbery. The officers later informed me that the suspects had opened fire when challenged to surrender,” he told the court.
According to Omuko, the officers engaged the suspects in a shootout, during which one man was fatally shot while two others escaped on a motorcycle, still firing at police.
Upon arriving at the scene, Omuko said he found the body of the deceased, a homemade gun, a kitchen knife, a mobile phone, and a wallet containing an ATM card bearing the name Wycliffe Owuor.
He said officers from the DCI Kayole later processed the scene and collected eight spent cartridges and two bullet heads.
The body was taken to City Mortuary, and the incident was recorded in the Occurrence Book.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Danstan Omari, representing the first three accused, Omuko described the security situation in Kayole at the time as dire, noting that over 13 police officers had been killed in the area in the months preceding the incident.
“You would feel like it was a death sentence being posted to Kayole,” he said, adding that he had been deployed there in January 2020 to help curb escalating insecurity.
Omuko said he deployed the accused officers based on information that the suspects were armed, adding that they acted under his command.
“They did not do anything outside my orders,” he stated.
He maintained that the firearm found near the deceased was recovered at the scene and not planted, as alleged.
“If I had planted the gun, the members of the public who had started gathering would have seen me,” he said.
The officer also questioned the independence of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) investigation into the case, claiming that investigators arrived at his office accompanied by a senior counsel who was allegedly representing Owuor and appeared biased.
“They demanded a verbal explanation, but I declined since that was the role of the OCPD,” he said.
Omuko told lady Justice Margaret Muigai that the lawyer had posted on social media that “he was at Kayole Police Station in case he disappeared.
“When IPOA came to my office accompanied by senior counsel somebody had just sent me X account of the counsel and caption was “i am at Kayole police station in case i disappear” the counsel was with me in the office with IPOA and i felt uncomfortable,” said Omuko
The six officers Corporal Joseph Ojode Obambo, constables Henry Mutai, Bashir Ali, Charles Kirimi, Inspector James Ingige, and Corporal Vincent Odhiambo are charged with the murder of Wycliffe Vincent Owuor on May 24, 2020, at Kayole Junction in Nairobi County.
Owuor, who was later identified as a suspect in the Sh72 million Nairobi West ATM heist, was shot dead during what police described as an anti-robbery operation.
The hearing continues on February 24, 2026.
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