Former AP officer jailed for 40 years after shooting colleague 10 times

A former Administration Police (AP) officer will spend the next 40 years in prison after the High Court in Nanyuki found him guilty of murdering a fellow officer in a shooting that left the victim with ten gunshot wounds.

Patrick Marwa was convicted of killing Dancun Cheruiyot during an argument at the Administration Police camp in Maralal, Samburu County, on May 4, 2019.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) announced that the court found the prosecution had proved the murder charge beyond reasonable doubt.

The case, prosecuted by Esther Kimani, Jackson Motende and Maina Kimaru, ended with Justice A.K. Ndungu sentencing Marwa to 40 years' imprisonment after finding that he acted with malice aforethought.

Court proceedings revealed that Marwa, who was attached to Administration Police Line Two in Maralal, had reported to the armoury at around 5.30 p.m. on the day of the incident.

He was issued with a G3 rifle bearing serial number J54854 and twenty rounds of ammunition before preparing to leave for night duty.

As he waited at the camp's main gate for transport to his assigned duty station, he was approached by Cheruiyot, who was in charge of discipline at the camp.

According to evidence presented in court, Cheruiyot instructed Marwa to surrender his firearm after informing him that he would not proceed with duty at the China construction site.

The directive sparked an argument between the two officers.

During the confrontation, the court heard that Marwa cocked his rifle before opening fire on his colleague, shooting him ten times. Cheruiyot died at the scene.

The prosecution presented evidence showing that Marwa handed the firearm to another officer shortly after the shooting.

The rifle was returned to the armoury before Marwa was arrested and escorted to Maralal Police Station, where the incident was officially reported.

Investigators who responded to the scene recovered ten spent cartridges of 7.62 mm calibre ammunition together with the same G3 rifle that had earlier been issued to the accused.

The physical evidence collected at the scene matched witness accounts of what had happened and formed part of the evidence relied upon during the trial.

A post-mortem examination conducted after Cheruiyot's body was taken to the Samburu County Referral Hospital mortuary confirmed that he had sustained ten gunshot wounds.

The medical findings reinforced the prosecution's case by establishing the extent of the injuries that caused his death.

Together with witness testimonies and forensic evidence, the post-mortem report helped the court reconstruct the events leading to the fatal shooting.

In delivering the judgment, Justice A.K. Ndungu ruled that the prosecution had established all the elements required to prove the offence of murder.

The judge observed that the evidence presented, including eyewitness testimonies, the scene examination and the post-mortem report, demonstrated that Marwa unlawfully caused the death of his colleague and did so with malice aforethought.

The court therefore convicted him of murder under Section 203 as read together with Section 204 of the Penal Code.