IPOA seeks 21-day detention for Police Constable James Mukhwana in Albert Ojwang murder probe
The investigating officer has said that Mukhwana was the one in custody of the cell keys on the day of the incident, and it is believed he may help with investigations.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has filed an application to detain Police Constable James Mukhwana, a prime suspect in the murder of Albert Ojwang, seeking to detain him for 21 days pending investigations.
In a miscellaneous application filed before the court, IPOA, through its senior assistant director of investigations, Abdirahaman Jibril, says it is investigating the case of the murder of Albert Ojwang.
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The murder is suspected to have been committed while the deceased was in custody at the Central Police Station in Nairobi.
According to IPOA, preliminary investigations have revealed that Mukhwana, together with other persons who are still at large, was likely involved in the planning and the execution of the brutal and fatal assault of the deceased inside the cells at Central Police Station.
The investigating officer has said that Mukhwana was the one in custody of the cell keys on the day of the incident, and it is believed he may help with investigations.
"Investigations also revealed that Mukhwana and other suspects at large were likely involved in a deliberate cover-up by tampering with CCTV footage at Central Police Station," the court was told on Friday.
Mukhwana was arrested on June 12, 2025 and booked at Capitol Hill Police Station. He is a police officer attached to the Central Police Station, where the murder allegedly took place.
IPOA submitted that unless the police officer is placed in custody, he is very likely to interfere with witnesses, the crime scene, custody records and other documentary evidence.
IPOA also told the court that there is a need to secure crucial police documents that are at the Central Police Station.
They said that they needed to subject Mukhwana's mobile phone to forensic analysis.
According to IPOA, Albert's murder is of grave public importance and in the interest of Justice and the dictates of the rule of law that Mukhwana is detained to allow the completion of independent and impartial investigations.
It also cited that the matter has elicited considerable public outrage, and therefore, the suspect's safety may be imperilled if he is released on bail.
"From the evidence collected by IPOA, the deceased was placed in custody by Mukhwana, who held the keys to where Ojwang was detained", IPOA said.
The report also stated that at around 1:40 am, the deceased was found lying unresponsive in a pool of blood inside the cell.
He was then taken to Mbagathi Hospital, and after assessment, the hospital confirmed that he was already dead and observed various injuries on his body.
The postmortem conducted on June 10, 2025, revealed the cause of death as a head injury due to blunt force trauma, neck compression and multiple bruises all over his body.
Investigations have revealed that Mukhwana was the cell's sentry on the fateful night Ojwang met his untimely death.
The miscellaneous application alleges that through interrogation of witnesses, Mukhwana was in constant communication with people within and outside Central Police Station immediately before, during and after the murder, highly likely planning the assault of the deceased and was briefing them on the outcome.
Preliminary investigations further revealed that after the fatal assault of Ojwang, Mukhwana, together with other persons at the police station, made false entries in police records with a view to misleading any subsequent investigations.
On June 8, 2025, IPOA found that the CCTV system had been interfered with, the DVR power cable was disconnected, and the logs indicated that the operating discs had been changed and formatted on the same day at 07:28 am and 07:32 am.
Mukhwana, therefore alleged to have organised the tampering of the CCTV footage.
However, Lawyers Danstan Omari, Stanley Kinyanjui and Sophie Nekesa opposed the application, saying that there are no sufficient grounds provided by the prosecution and the IPOA to warrant the detention of Mukhwana.
Lawyer Omari further said that the areas submitted by the IPOA as crucial areas for investigations, including retrieval of CCTV, forensic analysis of the suspect's phone, and other documents allegedly to be obtained from the Central Police Station, do not necessarily require Mukhwana in police custody.
Mukhwana appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki at Milimani Law Courts, where the court ordered his detention until June 20, 2025.
He was remanded at Capitol Hill police awaiting a ruling on whether the court will allow the application by IPOA to detain him for 21 working days or not.
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