COP LINKED TO REX MASAI SHOOTING DISMISSES VIRAL PHOTOS IN COURT

A police officer accused of shooting protester Rex Masai during the June 2024 anti-Finance Bill demonstrations has denied being the individual captured in viral photos presented in court.

Appearing before Milimani Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, officer Isaiah Murangiri Ndumba rejected images shown by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which claimed to place him at the scene of the fatal incident.

Using a projector, IPOA displayed photos allegedly taken during the protests, pointing to a man in a blue shirt, black cap, and wristband carrying a police walkie talkie. They claimed these details matched Murangiri.

Murangiri, however, firmly denied being the person in the pictures. “I’m not the one in those photos,” he told the court. He further explained that he did not report to work on June 18, 2024, because he had sought permission to care for his sick child. On June 20 the day Rex Masai was shot he said he was on duty near the KICC grounds and dressed in civilian clothes.

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) lawyer David Mwangi also drew attention to a visible birthmark beneath the suspect’s left ear in the photos, but Murangiri denied having such a mark. He was advised to check in a mirror when he gets home to confirm.

Murangiri added that he was part of a special unit briefed at KICC and not deployed from Central Police Station. He maintained the man in the IPOA photos was not him.

The inquest continues this afternoon, Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 2 PM.