Arron Nyamayaro
THREE cops were arrested for releasing six detained suspects without taking them to court. The Member-in-Charge of St Mary’s Police Station, Assistant Inspector Makunda, authorised the release of the suspects.
Ass-Insp Makunda, Sergeant Njanike and Constable Makina were arrested by Police General Headquarters Internal Investigations and are facing criminal abuse of duty as public officers. The detained suspects were released to court on January 2, but no docket or court reference was produced to authenticate that the six had indeed been taken to court.
National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, could not be reached for comment, but H-Metro is reliably informed that a PGHQ internal investigations team visited St Mary’s Police Station for a spot check on January 5 at around noon.
The team requested to check the Detention Book, Z69J book, Charge Office Diary (COD) and impounds register.
The team observed that 19 accused persons were arrested for public drinking on December 31 and booked in the St Mary’s Police Station Occurrence Book 10660/23. Thirteen suspects were released after paying fines and six were detained.
The detained suspects were released to court, but no docket or court reference was produced.
This prompted the PGHQ internal investigations team to arrest the three officers for contravening Section 174 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act (Criminal Abuse of duty as Public Officials).
The three officers are expected to appear in court soon.