A protected prosecution witness on Monday told the High Court that he was paid to erase CCTV footage from Central Police Station shortly after teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang died in police custody, as the prosecution continued laying out what it says was an attempt to conceal the circumstances surrounding his death.
The witness, identified only as DAN, testified before Justice Diana Kavedza at the High Court in Kibera that he was instructed to format the station's Digital Video Recorder (DVR), wiping all surveillance footage because it was not possible to delete recordings for only June 6 and June 7, 2025.
DAN was among three prosecution witnesses called by the Director of Public Prosecutions as the murder trial against six accused persons continued.
The accused are former Central Police Station OCS Samson Kiprotich Talaam, police officers James Mukhwana and Peter Kimani, and civilians John Ngige Gitau, Gin Ammitou Abwao and Brian Mwaniki Njue. They have all denied the murder charges arising from Ojwang's death while in police custody.
The prosecution team, led by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jalso Makori, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Wangui Gichuhi and Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Duncan Ondimu, told the court that DAN had installed the station's CCTV surveillance system in 2024.
According to the witness, he was summoned to Central Police Station on June 8, 2025, and instructed to retrieve footage captured on June 6 and June 7.
He told the court that he explained the system could not selectively delete recordings for the two dates and that the only way to remove them was by formatting the DVR.
DAN testified that after receiving approval, he logged into the system using the records office credentials, confirmed that the recordings were available and proceeded to format the DVR. He told the court that he did not watch the footage before deleting it.
The witness said he was paid Sh3,000 in cash after completing the work.
He further testified that he was later instructed to return to the station with two hard drives. However, upon arrival, he was informed that they were no longer required. Even so, he said he had already purchased the devices and was paid Sh20,000 in cash.
According to DAN, a records officer later informed him that his contact details had been shared with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). He was arrested on June 13, 2025, before recording a statement with investigators.
During the hearing, the witness identified the DVR and two sealed hard drives that were produced in court as exhibits.
A second prosecution witness, CCTV installation technician identified as AK, also testified about the surveillance system at Central Police Station.
AK told the court that he was called to the station on June 9, 2025, after investigators from IPOA had arrived to examine the CCTV system.
He testified that the DVR had been disconnected from the power supply and only resumed recording after it was reconnected.
After examining the system, AK told the court that the recordings sought by investigators could not be found. Based on his technical assessment, he concluded that the DVR had most likely been formatted rather than selectively edited, making it impossible to recover the missing footage.
He also identified photographs of the officers, the DVR and the CCTV display system, which were produced in court as exhibits.
The third prosecution witness, a protected police records officer identified only as AA, told the court that on the morning of June 8, 2025, they were informed that a detainee had died inside the police cells.
The witness said they later reviewed CCTV footage and saw an officer together with two unidentified people near the cell area.
According to the testimony, the three were seen walking towards the last cell before later emerging carrying what appeared to be a heavy object back towards the same cell. The witness told the court they could not identify what was being carried.
The records officer further testified that after reviewing the footage, the OCS instructed that the CCTV recordings be deleted, an allegation that forms part of the prosecution's case that there was a deliberate attempt to interfere with evidence following Ojwang's death.
The prosecution maintains that the destruction of the CCTV recordings was part of a wider effort to conceal what happened after Ojwang was assaulted while in custody.
Ojwang was arrested at his home in Kakoth, Homa Bay County, on June 7, 2025, by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations following a complaint over a social media post allegedly linked to Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Langat.
He was taken to Nairobi and booked at Central Police Station, where he died hours later.
A post-mortem examination later found that Ojwang suffered severe head injuries, neck compression and multiple soft tissue injuries. Pathologists concluded that the injuries were caused by assault and were inconsistent with self-harm.
The hearing continues on July 21, 2026.