Former MP Harun Mwau awarded Sh8m after police detained car for years

Former Kilome MP Harun Mwau. [File, Standard]

Former Kilome MP Harun Mwau has been awarded Sh8 million compensation for his high-end vehicle that was illegally held at Central Police Station in Nairobi.

High Court judge Asenath Ongeri said Mwau had proved that he suffered losses as the Range Rover House, which was taken by the police in 2011 after a shooting incident, was never returned to him.

Justice Ongeri noted that police were unjustified to detain the vehicle as there was no evidence that it was used to commit a crime.

The judge also ordered the Attorney General and National Police Service Commission to pay Mwau the value of the car at that time.

She noted that at the time the vehicle was released to the former lawmaker, it was not the same as when it was parked at the station. She said it is wasted, vandalised and eaten away by the vagaries of weather.

"I find that the police did not have a reason to detain his vehicle since it was not involved in the commission of any crime as prescribed by Section 26 of the Criminal Procedure Code. I find that the plaintiff (Mwau) is entitled to the declarations he is seeking since the unwarranted acts by the defendants amount to a violation of his property rights," said Justice Ongeri.

In his case, Mwau told the court that on June 23 2011, around 10 pm, his bodyguard was driving along City Hall Way to Parliament to pick him up. When the bodyguard passed Garden Square Restaurant, the motor vehicle was shot at by unknown persons who were in a car before they sped off.

The police visited the scene, took photos and drove his car to the Central Police Station.

The court heard that three days later, the politician went with his driver to pick up the vehicle but he was turned back.

According to him, the police indicated that they would not release the vehicle following "orders from the above".

He lamented that by the time it was being parked at the police station, everything was intact save for the bullet hole on the window.

The court heard that the police knew that the vehicle required constant running of the engine but did nothing.