Sacked police officer sues IGP

Dar es Salaam. Flashback December 12, 2012: Gunfire rents the air at the busy junction of Aggrey and Nyamwezi streets in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam, sending traders and passersby diving for cover.

As the drama unfolds, a gunman hurls onto the road a backpack stuffed with Sh150 million worth of bank notes they had just grabbed from businessman Mire Artan Ismail.

Scattered notes divert the attention of members of the public who had started to confront the robbers. The mob scrambles for the “free” cash, giving the gangsters an opportunity to melt away.

In the midst of the melee, five armed police officers attached to the anti-robbery unit arrive at the scene aboard a Toyota Land Cruiser pickup. The officers, led by Detective Corporal Duncan, fire into the air to disperse the rowdy crowd.

As people flee in different directions, Detective Corporal Geoffrey, according to eyewitness accounts and a police investigation report, disembarks from the back of the marked police vehicle, picks up the bag filled with cash and hands it over to his superior, Sergeant Duncan, who is on the vehicle’s passenger seat.

The officers almost immediately sped away from the scene, leaving behind a dead body lying on the street, one gunman armed with a pistol hiding in a nearby shop and a motorcycle the gangsters used to facilitate the robbery.

The incident generated a passionate public debate about what was viewed as police laxity, indifference and dereliction of duty.

There were demands that the officers involved in the incident be investigated and punished if they were found to have acted contrary to the police code of conduct.

The pressure paid off and the officers were court martialled and eventually dismissed from the Police Force after they were found guilty of gross misconduct and theft.

It was concluded that the officers failed to fulfil their duties after arriving at the crime scene and were dishonest after disappearing with money recovered from the scene instead of handing it over their superiors.

The officers filed an appeal, but the Inspector General of Police (IGP) upheld their conviction and expulsion, maintaining that there was irrefutable evidence that they took the money, which was never recovered.

Following the dismissal of their appeal by the IGP, the former officers were on March 13, 2013 charged in a civilian court – the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court – with stealing Sh150 million.

But the manner in which their case was handled by investigators and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) exposed serious laxity and weaknesses in how criminal cases are handled in what amounts to sabotage of the criminal justice system.

The case against the five officers dragged on in court for nearly a year without being heard. Every time it was mentioned, the best prosecutors could do was to ask for adjournment, saying they did not have the case file or that investigations were still going on.

The frequent requests for adjournment prompted Senior Resident Magistrate Emmillius Mchauru to lose patience on February 10, 2014.

The last straw was when State Attorney Aida Kisumo told the court that she did not have the prosecution case file.

“We don’t have the prosecution case file today. Mr Kweka has told me that all the relevant details ready, but he is out of office. Mr Kweka is in Morogoro. We thus ask that another date be set for preliminary hearing.”

But Mr Mchauru had had enough, and set the accused free.

“I fail to understand why the file is not handed over to state attorneys present in court. This is not the way to run an office. Files should not be personalised if what we have been told is to be believed. Since this case has been frequently adjourned at the prosecution’s insistence, I find it fit to dismiss the charge under section 225 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Act and the accused are unconditionally discharged,” declared the magistrate.

Under Section 225 (5), an accused person can be set free if a certificate by a regional crimes officer stating the need and grounds for adjourning the case is not filed in court.

The law is, however, clear that the discharge under that section shall not prevent a subsequent charge being brought against the accused for the same offence.

The mishandling of the case against the five police officers now seems to have backfired on the Police Force.

One year after they were released, the former police officer who allegedly grabbed the bag stuffed with cash from the crime scene is suing the IGP and Attorney General for Sh850 million in damages.

In the case he filed in the High Court in January, former Detective Corporal Geoffrey claims that his dismissal was unjustified and unreasonable. He claims that he was locked up for three months and denied bail at the insistence of the IGP.

His lawyer claims in a plaint: “When the plaintiff was incuriously dismissed from his employment by the 1st defendant, the plaintiff still had sixteen years of work as (an) employee before reaching retirement. Had it not been the IGP, he could have easily secured another job.”

Questions are now being asked as to why the “watertight evidence” that was used to convict the officers during police disciplinary proceedings was not presented in court to support their prosecution.