A self-confessed killer who had given a graphic description of how they murdered a Nairobi businessman over Sh9 million debt now says he lied because he was promised money by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Ngira Karisa Charo said he recorded the confession under duress following threats and false promises by the detectives, who were hell-bent on making him implicate his colleagues.
“I was threatened in order to record the confession and tell lies that I shared with the court. It is not true that we killed the victim as I had earlier testified,” he told Mombasa Resident Judge Erick Ogola.
The witness was charged alongside Makonde Ruwa Buni and Eddlied Mandi Jilani with the murder of Issack Kassim alias Sokoro.
The State says that the suspects committed the offence on March 8, 2018 along Mombasa-Malindi road.
STRUCK A DEAL
Charo handed a lesser sentence after striking a deal with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to testify against his colleagues.
The suspect cum state witness further explained that he has changed his mind to tell the truth after the detectives failed to honour their promise and his subsequent jailing, which was against his expectation.
Mr Karisa explained that after striking a deal with the DPP, he did not expect to serve an eight-year jail term that was imposed on him by the court.
According to the suspect, he should have been acquitted following the truce by the state, but this did not happen as he was jailed hence the deal did not serve its intended purpose.
COERCED
“The plea bargain agreement was forced on me so whatever confession I made about this case is not true. I thought I would be set free but I ended up being jailed, which is contrary to our agreement. I did not kill anyone,” the witness said.
Mr Karisa said he did not write any statement with the police and that whatever appears to be his statements were written by the police themselves hence he is not aware of what the police recorded him as having said.
The court was also informed that the police declined to accept the witness’s initial statement that was recorded immediately after he was arrested.
“Police wrote the second statement on my behalf. Furthermore, I don’t know how to read and write so I am not aware of the content of the statement that I was forced to sign and accept as my testimony,” he said
When asked by defence lawyers Jared Magolo and Daniel Wamotsa the amount of money he was to receive after recording the confession, the suspect said the police did not specify the amount.
FRESH CHARGES
With the suspect now having recanted his evidence, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Alloys Kemo want the eight-year-jail terms imposed on him set aside and he be charged a fresh with the offence of murder.
“I want a copy of the certified court proceedings. I need to review the entire case and apply for the setting aside of the jail terms before we charge a fresh the witness,” the prosecutor said.
Following this application by the DPP, the witness will now revert to an accused person and plead to the charges afresh having recanted his testimony, which has literally dealt a blow to the prosecution’s case.
An advocate who was representing Mr Karis has also applied to recuse herself from the case after her client recanted his testimony.
JAILED EARLIER
Mr Karisa who had previously served a seven-year-jail term for the offence of assault, now says he did not kill anyone and that he has never involved himself in any murder plot.
According to his earlier testimony, Ms Mandi had hired them to eliminate the businessman, whom they killed by strangling him with a rope, as a way of clearing the debt after their business deal went sour. The businessman allegedly demanded back his money but the woman couldn’t pay back.
The case will be mentioned on October 2.
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