Masengeli bows to pressure, says he is now ready to appear in court

Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Administration Police Service Gilbert Masengeli now says he is ready to appear before the court to purge the six-month jail term imposed on him for disobeying court orders.

His lawyer Cecil Miller on Thursday told Justice Chacha Mwita that he is ready to present Masengeli before Justice Lawrence Mungambi at midday.

However, Mwita said Justice Mugambi is handling another case where he is a member of a court bench.

Miller asked for an opportunity to present his client before the court at 3.30 pm before lapse of seven days that are ending today.

The lawyer's fear is that his client will be a prisoner immediately and wanted Justice Mwita to facilitate him bringing the police boss to court to attempt to lift the sentence.

But Justice Mwita said he cannot know whether Justice Mugambi will be available or not and he cannot order a colleague to sit and handle Masengeli's request.

Mwita said he had only been assigned the file for a mention because Mugambi is not available and and his duty was to give another date for the mention of the case, hence directing the parties to appear before Mugambi on Friday morning, September 20 for directions.

Masengeli was jailed for six months after disobeying court orders seven times where he was wanted to explain the whereabouts of three men abducted by unknown people in Kitengela.

The court's orderlies were ready in court to detain Masengeli if he failed to convince the judge to lift the sentence as they awaited orders from above on whether to hand their boss to prison colleagues.

"We can't let him leave the dock because that is aiding the escape of a prisoner and we can be prosecuted for it, but we must wait for seniors to come and take over because of seniority," a police officer told The Eastleigh Voice.