Fears over city lawyer and client carjacked while leaving court
A lawyer, his client and a taxi driver have been missing for the last four days after they were carjacked by armed gangsters as they left the court
Police said that Willie Kimani, a lawyer with the International Justice Mission (IJM), his client Josephat Mwendwa and a taxi driver Joseph Muiruri went missing at around noon on June 23.
The three were carjacked while returning to the home of the client after a court hearing in Mavoko.
On Monday, IJM Field Office director Claire Wilkinson told Nairobi News: “We have contacted the family and the police and they have not been traced.”
The Law Society of Kenya has started a campaign on social media to help trace Mr Kimani and the two.
Advocates work is part of #MakingNairobiGreat #FindLawyerWillie pic.twitter.com/ogQA3IThoX
— Ochiel Dudley ?? (@ochieljd) June 28, 2016
Meanwhile, a joint team of investigators from the Flying Squad, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) are investigating the matter.
The missing persons had attended a criminal case at the Mavoko Law Courts where Mr Kimani was representing Mr Mwendwa.
Mr Mwendwa, had been charged with being in possession of bhang and resisting arrest.
STAB AP OFFICER
Police said that during the arrest in April last year in Syokimau, Mr Mwendwa attempted to stab a female Administration Police officer with a knife but her colleague shot him in the hand. He was arrested and taken to hospital and later charged in court.
Mr Mwendwa had claimed that the AP officer shot him following a disagreement over personal issues but the officer later changed the story and claimed that he accidentally shot him after he resisted arrest for being found in possession of bhang.
He reported the matter to the IPOA and the matter was still under investigations.
He claimed that the officer started harassing and intimidating him to drop the charges, prompting him to seek legal assistance from the IJM.
According to the police, the three left the court at around 12pm but are suspected to have been carjacked by armed men along Mombasa road around 2pm.
Detectives on Saturday recovered the taxi at Kamirithu village in Tigoni while Mr Kimani’s phone was traced to a tea plantation nearby.
On Monday evening, the police confirmed that two bodies with ropes tied on the necks which were retrieved from a swamp in Kijabe village were not of the missing men.
