A 24-minute gap between the time police arrived at Mbagathi Hospital with Albert Ojwang and when he was finally taken into the casualty department became the focus of the murder trial on Wednesday, with CCTV footage raising fresh questions about the officers' response during his final moments.
The timeline emerged as Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) forensic expert Joshua Mutua continued giving evidence before the court, explaining CCTV footage he recovered showing what happened after three police officers left Central Police Station with Ojwang on June 8, 2025.
Mutua told the court the police vehicle reached Mbagathi Hospital at 1:35 a.m., only 10 minutes after leaving Central Police Station, where Ojwang had allegedly been assaulted.
However, he said the officers did not appear to treat the situation as an emergency despite Ojwang lying unresponsive in the back of the police vehicle while they occupied the front seats.
"My take is that there was no urgency to take the victim to be attended to by the medics," Mutua told the court.
The CCTV footage played in court showed the officers moving around the hospital compound and making phone calls instead of immediately seeking medical help.
Justice Diana Kavedza also weighed in on what she observed in the footage.
"For the record, in my notes, what you will see is that the officers are moving very slowly. There is no urgency in that movement to show there is a sick person in the vehicle. Is that what the defence counsel and I agree on?" Justice Kavedza said.
The footage showed that at 1:46 a.m., two officers walked to collect a stretcher before returning to the police vehicle, which had remained parked outside the hospital.
It took another 13 minutes before Ojwang was wheeled into the casualty department.
At 1:59 a.m., exactly 24 minutes after the police vehicle arrived at the hospital, Ojwang was finally taken inside for medical attention.
While describing the footage, Mutua told the court, "The body is now being taken to the casualty."
Justice Kavedza immediately corrected him.
"You cannot say 'body' at this point because you are not a pathologist," the judge said.
The court also heard that the officers remained inside the casualty department until 2:11 a.m., after medical staff had reportedly pronounced Ojwang dead on arrival.
"They were in the casualty room. They're exiting at 2:11 a.m. That is about 10 minutes," Justice Kavedza observed.
"They load back the body into the police van at 2:12 a.m.," Mutua testified.
The officers drove away from Mbagathi Hospital at 2:15 a.m., about 40 minutes after they had first arrived. Ojwang's body was later transferred to the City Mortuary.
Mutua further confirmed that the CCTV footage presented in court had been examined and was authentic, adding that it had not been tampered with.
The forensic expert is expected to return to court for cross-examination on December 14, as prosecutors continue relying on the CCTV footage to support their case in the ongoing murder trial.