DPP urges guilty verdict for trio in killing of British aristocrat’s son
Police officer Naftali Chege and Chief Inspector Charles Munyiri, who are among the four suspects accused of murdering British Aristocrat Alexander Monson, at the High Court in Mombasa County on March 22, 2021.
Prosecutors have closed their case against three police officers and their retired colleague in the murder of Alexander Monson, son of British aristocrat Lord Nicholas Monson.
They urged a guilty verdict and asked the High Court to consider circumstantial and forensic evidence in determining the cause of death.
Police officers John Pamba, Naftali Chege and Ishmael Baraka Bulima and retired officer Charles Wang’ombe Munyiri have denied murdering Monson.
Prosecutor Alexander Muteti urged the court to determine whether the officers discharged their statutory duty of treating Monson as a suspect.
For their part, defence lawyers disagreed with prosecutors and urged the court to find the accused innocent and acquit them.
“The circumstantial and forensic evidence ... confirms the cause of death. Your duty was to find who caused the injuries. On behalf of the third accused there was no evidence that suggested he caused them,” lawyer Jared Magolo told the court.
He also argued that without evidence of who caused the injuries to Monson, the guilty person remains unknown.
Investigators, he said, let the family of Monson down because there was evidence that a bouncer at a club where he was before he was arrested had called the police.
“There must have been something, but investigators did not call the bouncer. At the time of arrest, reinforcement was called. (Reinforcement) is not called unless there is a serious confrontation,” Mr Magolo said, adding that detectives failed to find out what happened on the ground.
Another defence lawyer, Wangalwa Oundo, said the prosecutors’ theory that injuries on Monson were inflicted between 3am and 6am cannot be advanced.
Lawyer Daniel Wamotsa also submitted that inquest proceedings that led to the arrest and prosecution of the accused could not be used to determine their guilt.
“It was not a trial but an inquiry. I urge you not to look at the evidence,” he told the judge.
The accused are charged with murdering Monson on May 19, 2012 in Diani, Msambweni constituency, Kwale County.
Some 32 witnesses testified against the four.
Justice Ogola will deliver his judgment on October 28.
