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The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has given the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) seven days to conclude the probe into the murder of Albert Ojwang’.
In a statement on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, ODPP indicated that they were seized of the circumstances surrounding Ojwang’s death inside the Central Police Station cell, and that the investigations should be expedited for further action.
“The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is keenly following the circumstances surrounding the death of Albert Ojwang’,” ODPP said in a statement.
“The ODPP further notes that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has, vide its statement dated June 9, 2025, indicated the commencement of investigations into the circumstances surrounding Ojwang’s death.”
Submit file
The ODPP urged IPOA to submit the resultant file of the probe to its offices after the expiry of the seven days for review and further processing.
“In light of the foregoing and pursuant to Article 157(4) of the Constitution, and Section 5 (2) of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, Cap. 6B of the Laws of Kenya, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed the IPOA to expedite the said investigations,” ODPP said.
“The resultant investigation file should be submitted to the DPP within seven days for review and appropriate action.”
The statement comes just hours after government pathologist Bernard Midia revealed that the injuries sustained by Albert Ojwang, who died in police custody, were not self-inflicted, contradicting the initial police narrative.
Autopsy blows police account
Speaking on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, after conducting an autopsy at Nairobi Funeral Home, Midia, while representing all five pathologists who took part in the autopsy, Midia disclosed that Ojwang’s body bore multiple injuries consistent with a physical struggle, raising serious questions about the circumstances of his death.
“When you combine all the injuries in the body, they are consistent with a struggle,” Midia remarked.
“There were signs of struggle, generally, for consumption, but they are well described in the report that we’ve delivered for investigative purposes.”
He observed that the injuries were spread all over the body, including the upper limbs, trunk, and head, with bleeds and hematomas on the scalp, face, sides, and back of the head.
These findings, Midia explained, make it “unlikely to be self-inflicted injury.”
Ojwang’ was arrested by DCI officers at his home in Homa Bay County and transported more than 300 kilometres to the Central Police Station.
He was pronounced dead a few hours later and transferred to the Nairobi Funeral Home at night, with the police concluding that he had hit his head against a wall to his death.
While the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja suspended police officers on duty at the Central Police Station at the time of the death, pressure is mounting for the resignation of the Deputy Inspector General of police Eliud Lagat, who has been identified as the complainant in a false publication incident which police said they were probing.
