Court declares abducted man dead after years of search by family

Nearly four years after he was forcibly taken from a taxi by men claiming to be police officers, a 70-year-old businessman has been declared dead by the High Court.

Kuni Halanka disappeared on the evening of February 7, 2022, shortly after boarding a taxi outside Weston Hotel on Lang’ata Road in Nairobi.

According to the taxi driver, the vehicle was intercepted along Likoni Road by individuals posing as police officers, who dragged Halanka out of the car and drove away with him. He has never been seen again.

In an application filed at the High Court in Marsabit, Halanka’s son, Alex Kuni, said he had requested a cab from taxi-hailing company Bolt at about 6.59pm to pick up his father from the hotel and provided the driver with Halanka’s phone number for direct communication.

Minutes later, at around 7.18pm, he said he received a call from the driver informing him that the taxi had been blocked by men posing as police officers who forcefully removed his father and took him to an unknown destination.

Halanka’s disappearance marked the beginning of what the family described as a painful and relentless search.

They reported the incident to the police, filed a habeas corpus application demanding that the State produce him dead or alive, and repeatedly followed up with investigative agencies — all without success.

Despite a court order compelling the police to account for Halanka’s whereabouts, the family said authorities failed to comply. Investigations stalled, communication with law enforcement became hostile, and the case gradually went cold.

Last week, the High Court formally acknowledged what the family has long feared — that Halanka was the victim of a forced disappearance.

In his ruling, Justice Francis Rayola said it would be unjust and unconscionable to require the family to wait the statutory seven years before a declaration of death, given the circumstances surrounding the disappearance.

The judge noted that Halanka had no reason to abandon his family or business and that the manner of his disappearance strongly suggested state involvement or acquiescence.

“It is clear beyond peradventure that the applicant’s father was a victim of forced disappearance. It would be unfair and unconscionable to hold the family at bay when the circumstances reveal that, by all means, their father cannot be alive,” Justice Rayola ruled.

The court ordered the Registrar of Births and Deaths to issue a death certificate indicating February 7, 2022 — the date Halanka was last seen — as the date of death.