We didn't intend to kill trader, say cops in City Park murder case

 

Two police constables charged with the murder a businesswoman at City Park have told a court that they had no intention of killing anyone.

William Chirchir and Godfrey Kirui took to the stand on Monday to defend themselves against the murder charge. 

Chirchir was the first to testify before Justice Stella Mutuku who had ruled that they had a case to answer.

He told the court that on the day the shooting happened, they had been deployed to patrol City Park when they received a report of a vehicle parked in the forest.

Chirchir said due to an active terror attack alert, they had to be vigilant and shot at the vehicle when it sped off.

The constable said the officer-in-charge knocked on the window of the vehicle but there was no movement. However, after a towing truck arrived at the scene, the driver sped off.

Chirchir further told Justice Mutuku that the speeding car nearly knocked their boss down. He shot first in the air and then at the car to deflate the tyres and demobilise it. 

The court further heard that none of the officers knew how many people were in that vehicle at the time but only realised later that there was a woman on the back seat who was naked.

“Our aim was to deflate the tyre not kill anybody, that's why we didn't aim for the driver side,” Chirchir said.

He said that when the car finally stopped, the driver unlocked the car from inside and that is when police found out that there was another occupant.

Chirchir further added that when the incident happened he had never met either the woman or the driver so he didn’t have a reason to kill them.

According to the officer, their main concern was the safety of all Kenyans due to the terror alert. 

Kirui narrated the same story, adding that he was very shocked to see that there was a woman at the back seat who had been injured.

He reiterated that they didn’t intend to shoot anyone when they went out for patrol that morning.

When asked why they thought the vehicle was suspicious, Kirui said it was because it was the only car that had been parked at the area and had fully tinted windows.

In December, Justice Stella Mutuku put them on their defence ruling that they each had a case to answer in the murder of Janet Waiyaki.

She was fatally shot on the morning of May 20, 2018, allegedly by the two police officers while she was in a car with her nephew, Bernard Chege.

The judge put them on their defence because they were at the scene where the killing took place.