The High Court has dismissed an appeal by 16 people alleged to be members of Mombasa Republican Council who sought Sh28.8 million as compensation for arrest and prosecution.
Athumani Ahmed and 15 others had sued the state after they were arrested and prosecuted in 2010 for unlawful assembly in Kilifi county.
The 16 people were acquitted by court after the prosecution failed to prove its case against them.
They filed a compensation suit claiming they were maliciously arrested and prosecuted.
They proposed that in the event the court agreed with their submissions, each of the appellants be awarded general damages of Sh800,000 for arrest and detention and a further sum of Sh1 million for malicious prosecution.
The magistrate’s court dismissed their case leading to the appeal.
Justice R Nyakundi ruled that the appellants had not proved that investigations, arrest and subsequent prosecution of them was done by the police without ascertainment of the facts and circumstances of the case and collection of relevant evidence relating to the offence.
“The upshot of this appeal is that there was probable and reasonable cause within the knowledge of the officer commanding Kilifi police station to warrant arrest, investigation and prosecution initiated against the appellants,” Nyakundi said.
“It is not enough for the appellants to merely assert that the criminal proceedings were terminated in their favour, rather the basis for that must be made clear that the offence for which they were prosecuted related with particularity of a malicious prosecution.”
He added that a police officer under the National Police Service Act and the Criminal Procedure Code Act can arrest a suspect of a crime if he or she on reasonable grounds believes that any steps taken are for the preservation of the internal security or the prevention of any offence.
Athumani stated that on or about August 28, 2010, they were maliciously arrested and detained at Kilifi police station for allegedly taking part in an unlawful assembly contrary to Section 79 of the Penal Code Cap 63 of the Laws of Kenya.
He said that following the arrest, the 16 of them were charged with the offence by the inspector general who acted with malice and on falsehoods.
They argued that police had no probable cause to arrest or prosecute them for the offence of taking part in an unlawful assembly as indicted, and they were acquitted by the trial court.
Athumani further said the purported unlawful assembly was a well-intended meeting, even known to the area chief.
According to his evidence, the meeting was held every Saturday in the house of one of the alleged members.
The state, however, defended itself arguing there was reasonable and probable cause to arrest the appellants for taking part in an unlawful assembly.
They had gathered evidence in support of the allegations that would be material on which the trial court was asked to determine the offence.
Chief inspector Macharia said while at Kilifi police station, he received information about members of the MRC holding a meeting aimed at raiding land belonging to a foreigner.
Before the meeting, the officer stated that some members had approached his office for a permit but the same was denied due to security reasons.
“Nevertheless, a group of 16 members proceeded to hold the meeting even after being denied a permit. What followed therefore was arrest and prosecution of the 16 appellants to face trial for the offence of taking part in an unlawful assembly”, the court was told.