6 Kenyan police officers charged with murder of 2 Embu brothers » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 2 – Six police officers were charged with the murder of two Embu brothers Thursday.

The officers were arraigned before Justice Daniel Ogembo at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi where they denied the charges.

They are accused of killing Benson Njiru aged 22 and his brother Emmanuel Mutua aged 19 who were arrested on August 1, before their bodies were found dumped in a mortuary on August 3.

The officers include Corporal Benson Mbuthia, Corporal Consolata Kariuki and Constables Nicholas Sang Cheruiyot, Martin Msamali Wanyama, Lilian Cherono Chemuna and James Mwaniki.

An application by their lawyers to have them tried under a public inquest was dismissed before they were ordered to take plea.

The judge ordered they be remanded at the Industrial Area and Lang’ata Women’s prisons until September 22 when their bail application will be heard.

Their lawyers through Danstan Omari earlier told the court that the six deserved to go through a public inquest due to the controversy surrounding the charges.

“We want an inquest into the brothers’ deaths conducted before the suspects are formally charged and that is why we are asking the court to issue an exhumation order and allow for a fresh postmortem to determine how they died,” Omari said, in an application that was dismissed.