NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 29 – The High Court in Eldoret has sentenced two former police officers to 35 years in prison each for the brutal murder of 21-year-old Dennis Lusava in police custody.
The two dumped the victim in River Nzoia in 2020 after a violent encounter at a police station.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi convicted former police constables Emmanuel Wafula Barasa and Godwine Wekesa Sirengo, ruling that they tortured Lusava to death at the Mbururu Police Post in Likuyani, Kakamega County, on October 7, 2020.
The court heard that the officers attempted to conceal the crime by dumping Lusava’s body in the river where it was discovered in a decomposing state four days later.
In his July 4 judgment, Justice Nyakundi said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the two acted with malice and conspired to kill Lusava after a public altercation embarrassed them.
“The murder [was] committed with malice aforethought, and there was transactional evidence linking the two officers to a common intention in the conspiracy,” the judge stated, dismissing the officers’ defence as unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust placed in law enforcement.
Tuesday’s sentencing followed a protracted trial in which twenty-one witnesses testified with prosecution presenting twenty-seven exhibits.
According to the prosecution, the officers lured Lusava to the police station using a civilian intermediary.
Once in custody, the officers handcuffed the suspect to a window and subjected him to a vicious assault involving kicks, punches, and beatings with electric cables.
They later falsified the Occurrence Book to claim Lusava’s release.
However, a post-mortem conducted on his body found on October 11 revealed severe internal injuries, with circulatory failure identified as the cause of death.
