Fresh questions emerged in court on Wednesday over the actions of three police officers from Central Police Station after CCTV footage showed the time they took before seeking medical help for the late Albert Ojwang at Mbagathi Hospital.
The issue became a major focus on the third day of the ongoing murder trial, with the prosecution relying on the footage as part of its evidence.
IPOA forensic expert Joshua Mutua, who retrieved and analysed the CCTV recordings, returned to the witness stand to explain what happened during Ojwang’s final hours on June 8, 2025. According to the footage, the police vehicle carrying Ojwang arrived at Mbagathi Hospital at 1:35 a.m., about 10 minutes after leaving Central Police Station, where he had allegedly been assaulted.
Mutua told the court that he was surprised by what happened after the officers reached the hospital. He said there was no sign of urgency despite Ojwang being unresponsive in the back of the police vehicle while the three officers remained in the front.
“My take is that there was no urgency to take the victim to be attended to by the medics,” Mutua told the court.
Presiding Judge Diana Kavedza also shared her observations after reviewing the footage. She noted that the officers appeared to move slowly and did not seem to be acting as if they were rushing a seriously ill person for emergency treatment.
The CCTV footage showed the officers walking around the hospital compound and making phone calls after arriving. At 1:46 a.m., two officers were seen bringing a stretcher to the police vehicle, which had remained outside the hospital.
It then took another 13 minutes before Ojwang was taken into the casualty department. At 1:59 a.m., exactly 24 minutes after the vehicle arrived at the hospital, he was wheeled into the emergency unit.
While describing the footage, Mutua referred to Ojwang as a body, prompting Justice Kavedza to correct him, saying he was not qualified to make that determination because he was not a pathologist.
The court also heard that CCTV footage showed the officers leaving the casualty department at 2:11 a.m., shortly after medical staff had reportedly pronounced Ojwang dead. A minute later, they were seen loading his body back into the police vehicle before leaving the hospital at 2:15 a.m. His remains were later taken to the City Mortuary.
Mutua confirmed that the CCTV footage presented in court was authentic and had not been altered. He is expected to face cross-examination on December 14 as the murder trial continues, with the CCTV recordings remaining a key part of the prosecution’s case.
