Former Changamwe DCI boss Josiah Njiru has linked his dismissal from the police service to his involvement in investigating a case in which a German national has sued for compensation for arbitrary arrest and extortion.
In an explosive affidavit filed in support of a compensation case filed by Mr Stefan Weideneder, Mr Njiru revealed that his involvement in the investigations and recommending that some officers and a taxi driver involved in the matter be charged led to his sacking.
“As a result of my work and investigations herein, in the month of October 2022, I was blackmailed, taken through sham internal proceedings and summarily dismissed from the National Police Service (NPS),” Mr Njiru said in the court document.
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Mr Weideneder has sued for damages and compensation for false imprisonment, pain and suffering when he visited Kenya in July.
Through his lawyer, Mogaka Elkana, the tourist claims Sh470,000 that he allegedly used to buy his freedom after he was arrested.
Mr Weideneder came to Kenya in July to visit a female friend. He was ambushed and arrested on allegations that he was with underage girls at an apartment in Nyali.
The girls were allegedly seeking his sponsorship.
Mr Elkana said his client was arrested over false claims that he had committed criminal acts by merely being in the same house with the girls.
Senior Resident Magistrate Viola Muthoni this week ordered Mr Weideneder to file the claim afresh in the Small Claims Court or the Magistrate Court.
Mr Njiru, whose affidavit was attached to the freshly filed matter, said he was the lead investigator in Mr Weideneder’s arrest and extortion case.
He said a distressed Mr Weideneder visited the Changamwe police station and raised complaints that police officers had entered his rental apartment and attempted to arrest him when he had not committed any crime.
“I do recall that the claimant did complain that the officers had attempted to solicit a bribe of Sh4 million from Mr Weideneder to secure his release,” Mr Njiru said.
He said he took up the matter and instructed his team to take evidence from Mr Weideneder. He found that a crime had been committed and ordered the arrest of the taxi driver and the three officers.
“I was able to establish that [Mr Weideneder] had been unilaterally ambushed at his rental apartment by officers attached to various police stations led by their counterpart attached to Moi International Airport,” he said in court.
He said he could not find any report, signal or investigation that was instigated by the Nyali or the Moi International Airport police stations in internal services or signals from regional DCI offices regarding the matter.
“I did make a recommendation that the taxi driver and the officers be charged with criminal offences ranging from extortion to bribery,” he said.
He maintained that Mr Weideneder was extorted by members of the National Police Service who are being protected by their superiors at the regional DCI offices.
“Statements produced by one of the officers, purporting to be investigation documents from human trafficking and or defilement of minors, are either manufactured facts or foreign to me as the same never came up in the course of my investigation,” he said.
Mr Njiru also said he established that the taxi driver, his brother and one of the officers had detained Mr Weideneder’s passport so as to compel him to honour payments of Sh4 million before it could be returned to him.
“Why would a senior officer from Moi International Airport travel to Nyali to conduct an operation without officially informing his colleague in charge of Nyali police station?” he asked.
Mr Njiru also wondered why a senior officer in that position failed to collect the clothes of all parties and immediately take the minors and suspect to hospital for DNA evidence and treatment for possible HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
“Why would a foreigner, who is a clear flight risk, faced with grievous criminal charges attracting life imprisonment be released and asked to attend to the police at his own time? Why would a senior officer attend a meeting with witnesses and the suspect and return the passport and thereby facilitate his escape?” he posed.
Last week, the court declined to strike out the case and directed the officer to file his response to the case.
The Small Claims Court has 60 days to hear and determine the case. BY DAILY NATION