Thika Lawyers Boycott Court Proceedings over Colleague’s Murder, Demand For Gun Licences To Protect Themselves.
Lawyers who trade in
Thika Town Monday Morning joined their colleagues across the country on a
national wide strike to protest the killing of their colleague Willie Kimani
and his two companions.
The call of the
strike was given by The Law Society of Kenya Chairman Isaack Okero who said
that he has already written to heads of various judicial divisions notifying
them of the one-week boycott aimed at paralysing court operations across the
country. The lawyers completely
boycotted court proceedings as a result of which several cases were adjourned
without hearing.
Donned in purple
ribbons, the Thika Branch LSK chairperson Ishmael Nguring’a led the group of
about 20 attorneys to the Thika Law Courts where they gathered to stage their
next course of action. They then proceeded to the Thika West Deputy County
Commissioner’s Office where they lodged their displeasure in the way police
officers took Kimani’s life and those of the other two people he was with.
Speaking in the
DCC’s office, Nguring’a that, as the head of the security team, they paid him
the visit to seek an assurance of their safety as well as expressing their
protest against the conduct of the AP officer who were directly involved in the
heinous act. He added that no lawyer in Thika will attend any court proceedings
for the whole of this week.
“We are also taking
this opportunity to express our disappointment with your officers on the
ground, in the name of the chiefs and their assistants. They have become a law
unto themselves by presiding ‘Kangaroo Courts’. The AP officers in those camps
are a law unto themselves. These are issues that you need to at Mr. Anjere
before hell breaks loose,” said Nguring’a.
Nguring’a pointed
out that they had challenges with the police in Thika and the administrators in
a great scale and that needed to be addressed.
He said that in the
course of the week, they will engage taxi drivers and other people in the
transport industry as they visit the officers manning all the security organs
to express their displeasure and seek assurance that the lives of every Kenyan
was protected.
He pointed out that,
as lawyers, they were now more than determined to apply for ammunition as a
defense mechanism measure to guard themselves.
“Lawyers are
determined (to get guns) because we are dealing with matters, some of which are
so controversial. When it gets to a point where the government agents that
ought to protect your life is the same one taking your life, you feel that you
owe yourself the duty of care to make sure your security is in your hands. That
is why we are saying that we are interested in making individual applications
and we don’t expect to be antagonised in the process,” he said.
Thika based practitioner
Waithera Mwangi said that threats in law cases were common but she herself has
been lucky never to have faced any. She narrated how one of her clients was
executed immediately after a hearing in such a fashion that exhibited great
planning by the executers of that murder.
“One of my client
was murdered. He talked to me at around 2:30(pm) and was told to wait for this
(land) search until 3:30. That was in the Murang’a Lands Registry. And at 4:30,
I was called ‘Your client has been found dead and dumped at Kangari. You can
see the time it takes from Murang’a to Kangari. It was a very well executed
murder. The security forces compromised it,” said Waithera.
Waithera added that even
after writing to the Inspector General of Police on the matter, the most they
got was got as at to date was an inquest.
She promised that as
the bench, they will continue in their protest until justice for these victims
prevails.
On his part, DCC Tom
Anjere assured them that he would do all in his ability to ensure their safety.
He pleaded with them to let the legal process to take its course
“Let us look at that
(Willy’s murder) as a very isolated incident and let’s not make judgements too
early. As a chair to the security committee, I am sure we will not support our
own officers to go out and perform such kind of killings”, said Anjere.
He told the lawyers
that his office will make arrangements to ensure that they were protected
during their demonstrations but appealed to them not to allow any hooligans to
hijack their protests into breaking the law.
Lawyer Kimani, who was 32, went missing along with his taxi driver and client after a court appointment over a week ago.
Bodies of the three, Willie Kimani (lawyer at International
Justice Mission), Josephat Mwenda (client) and Joseph Muiruri (taxi driver)
were discovered by villagers when they washed up on Ol Donyo Sabuk River on
Thursday and Friday.
They were tied up with ropes, while some had their fingers
chopped off and eyes gorged out, an indication that they were tortured before
they were killed.
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