AG, Kibicho off the hook in a death payout case as State pays Sh3m

Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki Interior Principal Secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho

Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki (left) and Interior Principal Secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The State has paid Sh5.3 million in compensation to the family of a man shot and killed by police in 2013, meaning the Attorney-General and the Interior principal secretary are off the hook in a contempt-of-court case.

This is after Ms Lucy Nduta Ng’ang’a, who filed a case at the magistrate court in 2013 as a representative of the estate of Edward Ng’ang’a Kuria, told the court that she had been paid.

Kuria was unlawfully shot dead by a police officer on September 24, 2009 while driving a motor vehicle on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

“We were paid last week. We are happy. The matter can be marked as settled,” Ms Ng’ang’a’s lawyer Origi Owino told the court.

State counsel Nguyo Wachira, for the AG and Dr Karanja Kibicho, also told the court that the case had been settled.

Justice John Mativo of the High Court in Mombasa marked the case as settled through consent.

Last week, he had for the second time directed the AG and Dr Kibicho to appear before the court and offer mitigation before sentencing.

The two were to appear in court on September 20 but the court was told that they were willing to pay the complainant.

And on September 28, when the case was mentioned, the court was informed that the payment was being processed.

In her case, Ms Ng’ang’a had told the court that police used excessive force, breached arrest procedures and acted negligently and illegally shooting dead Kuria, then aged 32.

Thereafter, Ms Ng’ang’a filed an application at the High Court seeking to compel the respondents to pay the money, which was allowed.

And on January 26, after another application by Ms Ng’ang’a, the High Court found Mr Kariuki and Dr Kibicho in contempt for disobeying a court order issued in October 2019 compelling them to pay her Sh5.3 million under a decree issued in 2016 decree.

On July 29, through her lawyer, Ms Ng’ang’a told the court that the money had not been paid and wanted the judge to sentence Mr Kariuki and Dr Kibicho.

However, the court said the two could not be sentenced before they appear in court for mitigation.