Court orders govt to pay Kayole man Ksh.5 million for wrongful arrest

A Nairobi court has awarded a man Ksh.4.5 million as compensation and an additional Ksh.500,000 as punitive damages for wrongful arrest and prosecution.

High Court judge James Makau ruled on Friday that police and officers from the DPP’s office violated Anthony Murimi Waigwe’s rights for preferring a robbery with violence charge against him without evidence in 2015.

“I find that it is not properly right in a civilized society like ours to close our eyes, ears and mouths when police officers arrest and charge innocent Kenyan youth and have them taken through unnecessary criminal trial like in the instance case,” noted Justice Makau.

“In my view any good prosecution must be purposeful and should not be used to stage-manage cases… in a democratic society like ours no one should be charged without authorities conducting proper investigations.”

Waigwe was arrested while heading to his place of work on July 22, 2015 following an encounter with police officers in Nairobi’s Kayole area.

The man, who worked as an attendant at Kamiti Selfridges Supermarket in Donholm estate, told the court he was immediately locked up at Kayole Police Station without being informed reasons for the arrest.

He was detained at the police station for over a week — from July 22 to July 31, 2015 when he was charged with robbery with violence alongside another man.

The court ruled that the charge was orchestrated by malice taking into account that he was not found in possession of any stolen goods and was charged immediately after the identification parade.

According to the judge, facts in the case clearly showed that no reasonable and sincerely honest person could have believed that the prosecution’s robbery with violence charge against Waigwe was likely to succeed.