Rogue policeman jailed for giving out firearm to robber
A police officer was on Monday sentenced to serve eight years in jail after he was found guilty of unlawfully disposing a firearm.
Paul Wachira Nderitu was charged for giving out his pistol to Sammy Muringi o was killed in a shoot-out during a robbery incident in Nanyuki on August 22, 2012.
The accused, who was sentenced by Senior Resident Magistrate Evanson Ngigi, is a police driver who was attached to Umande police station.
PLANNED ROBBERY
It is alleged that on the material day at around 7.30 pm, OCS Nanyuki police station Joash Nyachiro was tipped that there were people planning to rob a bar in Nanyuki town.
He dispatched police officers who, upon arrival, engaged the robbers in a shoot-out leading to the death of Muruiki who had fired at the officers with the pistol.
Other robbers managed to escape and after investigation the pistol was found to be from Umande police station and had been assigned to the accused.
The same night the accused could not be traced until after a week when he presented himself to Nanyuki police station where he was arrested.
After investigation, he was charged with the offence of disposing of his pistol which was used in a crime. He was also charged with unlawfully disposing of five rounds of ammunition to the deceased.
PISTOL GOT LOST
He was later arraigned in court where he denied the allegations.
In his defence, he claimed the pistol got lost while he was in his car with some passengers.
However, he could not explain why he never reported the disappearance of the pistol and why after the attempted robbery he went underground.
The magistrate sentenced him to eight years for each count which will run concurrently for they occurred simultaneously. He has 14 days to appeal against the sentence.