Former Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer Tiberius Ekisa appeared before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo at the Milimani Law Courts on Thursday, where he was cross-examined in connection with investigations into a fatal shooting during anti-government protests.
Ekisa told the court that he had been deployed to Parliament on both June 18 and 20 after intelligence reports suggested there were plans to steal the parliamentary mace in a bid to disrupt proceedings.
He recounted learning that an individual had died from a gunshot wound at Bliss Hospital. He said he dispatched an inspector to verify the incident, and during the examination, the body was identified as Rex Maasai through his identity card.
Ekisa detailed the subsequent investigation, including visits to the scene of the shooting and the hospital, to establish where Maasai had been shot. However, he noted that the hospital failed to cooperate with police inquiries.
Through interviews with watchmen in the area, investigators were eventually able to pinpoint the likely location of the shooting. Despite canvassing the scene, no bullet casings or projectiles were recovered.
He further told the court that the investigation was hindered by uncooperative business owners who refused to share CCTV footage. In addition, he said he had written to the Integrated Command and Control Centre (IC3) at Jogoo House to request footage from National Police Service (NPS) cameras but was informed that all cameras were offline at the time due to fibre optic issues.
Responding to questions about a police unit allegedly involved in the incident, Ekisa said he was not aware of any team by the name “Alpha-Mike,” adding that different units use various call signs.
He affirmed that the entire Nairobi Central Business District was under his command during the protests but denied giving any “shoot to kill” orders.
“I did not issue any shoot to kill orders on June 18 or 20. In fact, there were no casualties reported in the areas where my officers were deployed,” he said.
