Police delayed taking Albert Ojwang to hospital by 24 minutes, court hears

An IPOA forensic expert, Joshua Mutua, told the court he was shocked by the 24-minute delay before the officers finally wheeled Ojwang into the casualty department, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Mutua, the expert who retrieved CCTV footage capturing Ojwang's final hours, returned to the witness stand to explain the events that unfolded after three police officers left Central Police Station with Ojwang on June 8, 2025.

Timestamps from the CCTV footage showed that the police vehicle arrived at Mbagathi Hospital at 1:35 a.m., just 10 minutes after leaving Central Police Station, where Ojwang had allegedly been assaulted.

Despite the short journey, the three officers, who were seated in the front of the vehicle while an unresponsive Ojwang lay in the back, did not appear to be in a hurry to seek medical attention.

"My take is that there was no urgency to take the victim to be attended to by the medics," Mutua told the court.

Presiding Judge Diana Kavedza also commented on the footage.

"For the record, in my notes, what you will see is that the officers are moving very slowly. There is no urgency in that movement to show there is a sick person in the vehicle. Is that what the defence counsel and I agree on?" Justice Kavedza said.

The CCTV footage showed the officers walking around the hospital and making phone calls after arriving.

At 1:46 a.m., two officers were seen pulling a stretcher towards the police van, which had been left unattended outside the hospital.

It then took another 13 minutes before they wheeled the unresponsive Ojwang into the casualty department.

At 1:59 a.m., exactly 24 minutes after arriving at the hospital, Ojwang was finally taken into the casualty unit.

"The body is now being taken to the casualty," Mutua said while explaining the footage.

Justice Kavedza immediately interjected.

"You cannot say 'body' at this point because you are not a pathologist," the judge said.

At 2:11 a.m., CCTV footage captured the officers leaving the casualty department after Ojwang had reportedly been pronounced dead by medical personnel.

"They were in the casualty room. They're exiting at 2:11 a.m. That is about 10 minutes," Justice Kavedza observed.

"They load back the body into the police van at 2:12 a.m.," Mutua testified.

The officers left Mbagathi Hospital at 2:15 a.m., about 40 minutes after their arrival. Ojwang's body was later transferred to the City Mortuary.

Mutua confirmed to the court that the CCTV footage presented as evidence was authentic and had not been tampered with.

The forensic expert is expected to face cross-examination on December 14, with the CCTV footage forming part of the prosecution's key evidence in the ongoing murder trial.