A team of lawyers representing six police officers implicated in the death of two Embu brothers have withdrawn from the case after the high court ruled that the officers should plead to the murder charges.
The six officers; Benson Mputhia, Consolata Kariuki, Nicholas Cheruiyot, Martin Wanyama, Lilian Chemuna and James Mwaniki were being represented by Dunstan Omari, Cliff Ombeta among others.
The lawyers led by Dunstan Omari had put up a spirited fight to have the plea deferred claiming the six police officers had contracted COVID-19 symptoms but Justice Daniel Ogembo dismissed the application and directed them to take a plea.
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In a turn of events, the lawyers who were about 10 withdrew from the case claiming they had no instruction to represent the officers in plea taking.
“Our instructions were to stop the plea, those instructions have been extinguished by the ruling of the court… as of now, the five are unrepresented. The defence team has withdrawn, it has no instructions,” Omari told the court.
The officers asked the court to give them more time to get advocates to represent them in the matter.
The prosecution team led by Assistant DPP Jacinta Nyamosi asked the court to appoint state counsels to represent them in the matter. They have been remanded at Industrial Area and Lang’ata women prisons pending their plea taking session.
