Former Pangani OCS Acquitted in Escape Aid Case
The magistrate concurred with defence lawyer Kimani Wachira, who represented the former OCS, that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused person.
Former Pangani Police Station OCS Samir Yunus has been acquitted by a Nairobi court of an offence of aiding a convicted person to escape from lawful custody.
He had been accused of assisting Hussein Mumin Hassan, who was convicted of the offence of being in the country illegally, to escape from custody on April 12, 2022, at Pangani Police Station in Nairobi County.
However, Milimani principal magistrate Caroline Nyaguthii ruled that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the charge, leading to his acquittal.
The magistrate concurred with defence lawyer Kimani Wachira, who represented the former OCS, that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused person.
Wachira had urged the court to acquit the OCS, saying that no evidence adduced by prosecution witnesses linked Yunus with the crime.
Yunus had been charged with aiding a prisoner to escape from unlawful custody contrary to section 124 of the Penal Code.
According to the charge sheet, the OCS had been accused of aiding Hussein Mumin Hassan on April 12, 2022, at Pangani Police Station.
Yunus had denied the charges when he was first presented to the court.
While delivering her ruling on whether or not to put Yunus on his defence, the magistrate pointed out that there is no evidence to warrant the court finding him with a case to answer.
This was after lawyer Wachira used the cross-examination case to dismantle the prosecution’s case, hence making the case sway in his client’s favor.
” The prosecution’s evidence was full of loopholes which were unfounded and the investigating Officer failed to seal them,” said the magistrate.
She added, ” I therefore find that a Prima Facie case has not been established and I proceed to acquit both the accused persons under section 210 of the penal code,” the magistrate ruled.
The prosecution had told the court that the NTV Expose’ showed the accused persons aiding the victims to escape.
Furthermore, according to the investigative officer, the OCS ordered that the accused person be released from cells pending further instructions, and the accused person denied the wrongdoing.
The court contended with the defense that the NTV exposé did not fully identify the accused person aiding the suspect to escape from lawful custody.
