Ministry of Defence ordered to remit Sh7.9 million in civilians shooting incident

The Court of Appeal has stayed the execution of a judgment that awarded four civilians over Sh7 million as compensation for damages suffered after the Kenya Defence Forces officers shot them in Mandera in December 2015.

Court of Appeal Judges Gatembu Kairu, Fred Ochieng, and Aggrey Otsyula Muchelule, in a ruling delivered last week, stayed the execution of the June 2022 order until an appeal filed by the Attorney General, the CS Ministry of Defence, and the Director of Public Prosecutions is heard and determined.

The judges ordered the Ministry to deposit the Sh7.9 million in court, within the next 90 days, failure to which the order for stay of execution shall automatically lapse.

“The execution of the decree is stayed until the appeal is heard and determined. The applicants shall deposit the decretal amount in court, within the next 90 days; failing which the order for stay of execution shall automatically lapse,” read the ruling in part.

Adan Mohammed, Dubane Samow, Abdulle Sahara Maow, Salan Hashim, and Mohammed Sheikh Mohammed had sued the Ministry of Defence claiming violation of their Constitutional rights.

Mohammed, Samow, Maow, Hashim, and Sheikh in the suit claimed that on December 28, 2015, at around 10.45 am, three Kenya Defence Forces Land Cruisers, each occupied by at least six hooded officers, stopped at Hali connection where some people were repairing a vehicle, a Toyota Probox.

The officers allegedly shot indiscriminately, injuring the driver of the Pro Box, passengers in the vehicle, and a passerby, some of whom succumbed to the injuries while undergoing treatment at Mandera County Referral Hospital. Another passerby died on the spot.

A search carried out on the vehicle by police officers, including some from the Anti-Terrorist Police Unit, found nothing incriminating.

The army officers had, allegedly, indicated that the reason for shooting at the vehicle in which the civilians were was that it had explosives in it.

When the search yielded no explosives, the Mohammed, Samow, Maow, Hashim, and Sheikh submitted that the government had failed to prove that there was any justification for the shootings.

But the army officers denied any involvement in the shootings.

The court noted that there was no denial that the Kenya Defence Forces officers shot at a pro box as alleged by the petitioners, and people were injured in the incident.

KDF in their defence attributed the same to have been a defence mechanism on the part of the officers.

The AG and the Ministry were, however, aggrieved and appealed.