OCS Taalam be treated as prime suspect in Albert Ojwang murder - DCI boss Amin says

DCI Amin made the bold statement on Wednesday during a Senate grilling session on Ojwang's killing, which has sparked public outrage.

According to the DCI boss, investigations have established that OCS Taalam declined to book Ojwang when he was presented at the station, raising serious questions over his conduct and possible culpability.

“It has further been confirmed that before the booking, the report office personnel called the OCS, and unfortunately, it is being said that (Taalam is the OCS and not the OCPD) he declined to book the suspect,” Amin told the Senate.

“Taalam is the Officer Commanding Central Police Station, and from the totality of things, he should be treated as the prime suspect in the matter.”

Amin dismissed earlier reports retracing Ojwang’s death, where he was reportedly transported from Homa Bay to Nairobi in a span of about 26 hours, a distance of about six hours.

He instead maintained that Ojwang was first booked at Mawego Police Station in Homa Bay County on Saturday afternoon before being transferred to Central Police Station in Nairobi the same day.

“The vehicle that was used to ferry the deceased from Homa Bay County to Nairobi was a DCI vehicle and I can confirm that from Homa Bay, he was driven straight to Central Police Station and for this we can technically confirm the movement of the Subaru vehicle by using the GPS system,” he explained.

“The deceased was booked at Mawega Police Station on Saturday and booked out at 1600hrs and was booked at Central Police Station at 2132hrs.”

The DCI further dispelled claims of torture following the disparity of time difference, noting that the suspect appeared normal when he arrived at the station and that his entry was captured digitally, ruling out any manual interference in the records.

“The suspect was placed in the cells while appearing normal, and that was captured digitally; there is no room for human interference,” he said, adding he was also given an opportunity while at the station to talk to his wife.

Amin, at the same time, said the deceased was treated humanely during the journey to Nairobi, even claiming that he was provided with refreshments during a stopover in Narok.

The development comes amidst allegations that the late blogger was picked up at his home on Friday afternoon and logged in the occurrence book at the Nairobi Central Police Station 32 hours later.

Sources within the police station had said the deceased was booked in while bleeding and with serious injuries. A conspicuous word, 'sick', was also written under his details.

Ojwang was, according to police records, declared dead on arrival at the Mbagathi Hospital at 1:39 am.