A fresh account of Albert Ojwang's final hours emerged in court on Tuesday after prosecutors presented forensic evidence indicating he walked into Central Police Station alive and responsive but was later carried out in an unresponsive state, with recovered CCTV footage forming a key part of the prosecution's case.
The evidence was presented as the murder trial resumed, with the prosecution calling Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Head of Forensics Joshua Mutua to explain findings from the examination of surveillance footage and the alleged interference with the CCTV system at Central Police Station.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, July 21, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the day's proceedings began with the recall of a records office officer from Central Police Station, who continued giving evidence on how CCTV footage recorded on June 6 and June 7 was deleted.
"Prosecution first recalled Prosecution Witness Three (PW3), an officer attached to the records office at Central Police Station, who continued her testimony on events surrounding the deletion of CCTV footage for 6th and 7th June 2025.
"The witness concluded her account on the circumstances under which the surveillance recordings were deleted on 8th June 2025," the statement read.
The prosecution later called Mutua, a specialist in video investigations, who took the court through a forensic review of CCTV footage, photographs and findings from the station's surveillance equipment.
According to the ODPP, Mutua reconstructed the sequence of events recorded on June 7, 2025, beginning shortly before Ojwang arrived at the station, following his movements while in custody and ending when he was taken out of the police station.
"Mutua told the court that his investigations commenced on 9th June 2025 when he, accompanied by fellow investigator Mr. Naphtali Nduhi, visited Central Police Station to examine the CCTV system," the statement added.
The witness told the court that before visiting the station, he contacted a technician identified as Dan after receiving his contact from a records officer. Since Dan was unavailable, he referred Mutua to Aaron, another technician who helped install the station's CCTV system in 2024.
"He testified that before visiting the station, he had contacted a technician identified as Dan, whose details had been provided by a records officer. Although Dan was unavailable, he referred Mr. Mutua to another technician, Aaron, who had participated in the installation of the station's CCTV system in 2024," the statement further read.
Mutua said he later met Aaron outside the office of the Officer Commanding Station before they entered to inspect the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) together with other surveillance equipment.
He photographed the CCTV installation and found that the DVR had been disconnected from its power source. After the system was reconnected, he carried out a forensic examination of the recording device.
The court heard that the analysis established the DVR had been deliberately formatted at 7:30:14 a.m. on June 8, 2025, while it was inside the OCS's office.
Even after the recording device had been formatted, investigators managed to retrieve crucial footage from Central Police Station and Mbagathi through forensic recovery methods.
"Despite the formatting, the witness informed the court that forensic recovery techniques enabled investigators to retrieve critical CCTV footage from both Central Police Station and Mbagathi, preserving evidence relevant to the movements and interactions involving police officers and the deceased," the statement noted.
Mutua further testified that he prepared and signed a forensic exhibit report on June 9, 2025, documenting the seizure of the DVR and the condition in which investigators found it.
He told the court that the recovered footage showed Ojwang arriving at Central Police Station alive and responsive and remaining in that condition while inside the station. The footage later showed him leaving the facility while unresponsive.
The hearing is continuing.
The testimony follows Monday's court session, during which CCTV footage recovered by IPOA investigators was played before the court.
During the proceedings, one of the lawyers presented the footage while questioning witnesses.
The footage showed a police officer dressed in blue, who was identified as one of the officers deployed at Central Police Station, speaking with two unidentified individuals at the entrance to the holding cells at about 10.25 p.m. on June 7, 2025.
The two men, both wearing caps, entered the search area before being allowed into the section where the cells were located.
They then walked to the last cell in the block, where Ojwang was being held. CCTV timestamps showed them leaving the cell at 10.41 p.m.
After a brief conversation with the officer lasting about three minutes, the two men returned to the same cell.
The footage also showed the officer locking the door between the search area and the cells. At about 11.45 p.m., two other men were seen running from the last cell toward the search area, where the two men in caps were waiting.
A few moments later, five men were captured running back to the same cell.
The court also heard from CCTV technician Aloni Okwako, who confirmed that the surveillance recordings had been manually erased.
Okwako testified that he met two police officers who informed him they wanted work carried out on the Digital Video Recorder located inside the OCS's office.