Former Mukuyuni Police Commander in Makueni County, currently a Deputy Ward Commander at Khwisero Police Station in Kakamega, has been charged with soliciting a bribe of Sh5,000 from a boda boda rider.
The crime reportedly happened while he was serving in Makueni last year. The court heard that Henry Mutunga, on September 14, 2020, ordered the arrest and detention of Joseph Kioko Mutuku without any justification.
The then acting OCS in the newly-elevated police station located along Wote-Machakos road is accused of demanding from Mutuku whose motorbike had been confiscated during curfew time to part with Sh10,000 to secure the release of his bike valued at Sh85,000.
According to court documents, Mutuku reported the matter to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) at Wote Huduma centre where he was referred to Machakos regional offices.
At Machakos offices, he was fitted with recording gadgets and detectives laid a trap. When the man turned up at the station the following day, the OCS got a wind of the trap and the man was arrested, put into cells, and everything that had been tapped was erased.
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Mutunga would allegedly force the man to hold his motorbike, took pictures of him with several rolls of bhang planted in his pockets. He was then accused of stealing his own motorbike from police custody and being in possession of bhang valued at Sh1,000.
A file that was then forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) but was stopped from proceeding to court after the EACC lodged a complaint that the man was their bait.
During the circus, a relative of the detained man tried to secure his freedom from police cells. Jeremiah Mutuku went to the station posing as a National Intelligence Service officer but he was arrested after the OCS found out that he was a fake detective. It was at this time that the OCS asked for a bribe of Sh5,000 to release the “fake officer”.
“On September 14, 2020, being an OCS of Mukuyuni within Makueni County requested and received a bribe of Sh5,000 from Jeremiah Mutuku who had been arrested and detained at the station for offence of impersonation,” reads the charge sheet.
The then OCS was arrested by officers from Internal Affairs Unit, within the National Police Service (NPS) following directives from the Inspector General of Police after investigations revealed that he had abused his powers.
Appearing before chief magistrate James Mwaniki, Mutunga pleaded not guilty to two accounts of abuse of office, requesting and receiving a bribe.
He was granted a cash bail of Sh150,000 or a bond of Sh300,000.
The case will be mentioned on April, 28.
