Lead image for Court closes file on PS bodyguard’s shooting case, awaits DPP directions.
A Makadara court has closed the investigation file of a police officer accused of fatally shooting youth mobiliser Cecil Ouma in Nairobi, pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The court said the matter could not remain open indefinitely as investigators were yet to complete the process of forwarding the forensic report and investigation file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
Police officer Rashid Charo was arrested following the June 30 shooting of Mr Ouma in Kariokor during an event attended by Principal Secretary for Youth Affairs Fikirini Jacobs. Charo is the PS's bodyguard.
He was later released on a Sh20,000 bond as investigations continued.
During a virtual hearing on Wednesday, Magistrate James Juma Maiya faulted the investigating officer for misleading the court about the status of the case.
At the previous court session, held 10 days earlier, the officer had informed the court that the investigation file had already been forwarded to the DPP and that police were awaiting directions.
However, it emerged that the file was only submitted to the DPP on August 18, just one day before Wednesday’s hearing.
“The miscellaneous file is closed. IO (Investigating Officer) will wait for the ODPP directions accordingly, but for now the file is closed,” the magistrate ruled.