New CCTV footage recovered by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has shed new light on the final hours of blogger and activist Albert Ojwang before his death in police custody at Nairobi's Central Police Station. 
By Fredrick Kioko,
New CCTV footage recovered by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has shed new light on the final hours of blogger and activist Albert Ojwang before his death in police custody at Nairobi's Central Police Station.
The surveillance recordings, presented before the High Court in Kibera, show that the 31-year-old arrived at the station on the night of June 7 in good physical condition. According to IPOA investigators, Ojwang was seen walking unaided, making phone calls and interacting normally before he was escorted to the holding cells later that evening.
Testifying before the court, IPOA investigator John Mutua said the footage captured Ojwang being taken towards the cells at approximately 10:45 p.m. by four individuals. These included police officers James Mukhwana and former General Service Unit (GSU) officer John Ngige, alongside two unidentified men whose faces were concealed by hooded jackets or caps.
The court also heard that the CCTV recordings documented the movements of several officers inside the station before and after Ojwang's arrival, including former Central Police Station commander Samson Tallam, officer Peter Kimani and other officers who interacted at different points during the night.
Investigators told the court that the station's CCTV system had been tampered with following Ojwang's death. According to Mutua, the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) was found without power, while storage drives showed signs of having been replaced and formatted in what investigators believe was an attempt to destroy crucial evidence.
Despite the alleged interference, forensic experts successfully recovered approximately 489 gigabytes of deleted surveillance footage, enabling IPOA to reconstruct the sequence of events inside the police station.
The recovered recordings trace Ojwang's movements through various sections of the station before he was placed in the cells and also capture the movements of officers who were on duty during the period he remained in custody.
Investigators also presented CCTV footage from Mbagathi Hospital, showing the moments Ojwang was transferred there after being removed from Central Police Station.
The evidence forms part of an ongoing murder trial in which former Central Police Station commander Samson Tallam, officers James Mukhwana and Peter Kimani, former GSU officer John Ngige, Jim Ambao and Brian Njue have been charged over Ojwang's death. Prosecutors allege that there were deliberate attempts to interfere with evidence following the incident.
The hearing is continuing before the High Court in Kibera.
