Why embattled police officer Ahmed Rashid failed to take plea

High Court judge Justice Diana Mochache has deferred plea taking of sergeant Ahmed Rashid.

The judge made the decision to allow herself familiarise with the proceedings of the case which she has just taken over.

When the matter came up for plea taking on Wednesday, March 22, defence lawyers led by Danstan Omari told the court that they had filed a preliminary objection before the court which had to be dealt with first before plea taking.

Omari told the court that a three judge bench of the high court had ruled that high court had no jurisdiction to handle murder cases instead the matter has to be handled by magistrate court.

Civil and human rights bodies including IPOA and Kenya Human Rights Commission together with the DPP insisted that Rashid takes plea on Wednesday, March 22 but the judge fixed the matter for mention on 29th this month, to allow herself to peruse the file.

The matter was mentioned virtually.

Killings captured on camera

Rashid is facing murder charges over the March 31, 2017 killings of two suspected thugs in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

The events of that day - when he was an officer at Pangani Police Station - were captured on an amateur video that circulated on social media. In the video, a man suspected to be Rashid, dressed in a maroon T-shirt, is seen shooting at two unarmed robbers whose hands appeared handcuffed behind their backs.

The teenagers were later identified as Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Dahir Kheri and were suspected to be hardened criminals in the area.