"It is even ironic that the stay orders were acquired ex parte, without granting our clients the opportunity to tell their side of the story," Mwale says.
On December 5, 2023, the officers who were then enjoying freedom, were ordered to appear before Kahawa Law Courts and taken back to Kiambu prison, though their bails were not refunded.
The matter was first fixed for mention on January 6, 2024, and all the parties were asked to file their responses, and February 5, fixed for the parties to turn up before Deputy Registrar Jackline Karani.
The matter was then pushed to April 24 before Justice Chepkwony and all parties requested to file their submissions. On May 2, 2024, when the matter came up for highlighting of the submissions, the court deferred it on the grounds that it had failed to trace submissions from the ODPP and one of the accused. The court ordered all the parties to submit hard copies.
The counsel was then requested to pick another date.
Come May 16, when all the parties appeared for highlighting, the court ruled that all the submissions were on record and set June 16 for the ruling.
But when all parties turned up on June 16 for the ruling, they were told that the court could not once again trace the submissions, even those that had been submitted in hard copy.
"The matter was then left pending with no fixed date when it is likely to come up again as our clients continue languishing in prison cells," Mwale says.
And as the court delayed bail application ruling, the ODPP approved fresh charges of murder against the 15 officers.
The Kiambu High Court has now ordered the officers to undergo a mental assessment before taking plea.
It is alleged that on the night of July 22 and 23, 2022 near Ole Sereni Hotel along Mombasa Road in Nairobi county, they murdered Indians Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan and Mohammed Zaid Sami, as well as Kenyan Nicodemus Mwania Mwange.
The Indian nationals are said to have arrived in Kenya in April 2022 to join the then Deputy President William Ruto's ICT campaign team ahead of the August 2022 General Election.