Witness tables evidence in Mombasa schoolgirl murder case

The officer who investigated the shooting of a schoolgirl in Kinango has placed the deceased’s uncle at the scene at the time of the shooting.

Speaking during the hearing of the case where two police officers were charged with the girl’s murder, Matuga DCIO Stephen Muli displayed the guns that were used during the incident.

Muli, who appeared as prosecution witness before High Court Judge Martin Muya, said one of the guns, an AK-47, has a machete cut, explaining that the suspect had aimed the machete at the officer’s neck before missing and hitting the rifle.

Kwekwe Mwandaza was shot dead on August 22, 2014 by police officers that were hunting down her uncle, a suspected criminal.

Family forensic pathologist, Emily Rogena, in her testimony told the court the injury found on the deceased’s head indicates it was caused by a gunshot.

Officer’s Veronica Gitahi and Issa Mzee have since denied the murder charges.

During the last hearing, the court was filled to capacity by human rights activists, relatives and friends of the girl.

The director of public prosecutions had recommended that the officers involved in the shooting be charged with murder following separate investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority.

Last month, the court issued an order allowing the exhumation of the body of the girl for an independent postmortem examination after a successful application by her mother Ms Umazi Zani.

The deceased’s father, who was the first interested party in the case, had opposed the exhumation.