The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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A Safaricom PLC manager on Monday testified that call data records linked a mobile number registered to Isaiah Murangiri to activity within Nairobi’s Central Business District, contradicting Murangiri’s earlier statement that he had stopped using the line a year earlier.
Murangiri is a witness in the inquest into the shooting of Rex Masai.
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Appearing before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo at the Milimani Law Courts, Safaricom senior manager Zachary Kirogoi Mburu said the firm received two court orders to provide call records and location details for three numbers registered to Benson Kamau, Murangiri, and Michael Oginga Okello.
According to him, Safaricom’s logs showed activity on the numbers between June 18 and June 20, 2024, with signals captured by masts around Wincer House, Accra House, Kencom, St. Ellis, KBC Towers, and Hill Town.
Mburu explained that subscribers are connected to available network sites within range, noting that Nairobi CBD’s coverage radius is about five kilometres.
“Murangiri may not have moved, but Kencom still captured his signal,” he said.
The prosecution said this evidence contradicted Murangiri’s testimony, strengthening their case that he was within the CBD at the time in question.
Separately, Senior Superintendent of Police Alex Mutindi Mwandawiro, a DCI-based ballistic expert, testified that IPOA had on July 1, 2024, submitted a bullet fragment for analysis. He identified the exhibit as a damaged 0.83-gram jacket from a 5.56mm rifle round that had struck a hard surface before being recovered.
However, when compared with firearms supplied for testing, the fragment did not match any. He explained that the pistols forwarded from the DCI Central armoury did not include the Ceska F7226 pistol listed in IPOA’s memo, while rifles issued to police and KWS, such as Chalbi rifles and AK-101s, fire different calibres.
Mwandawiro concluded that the results were inconclusive since the bullet jacket did not correspond with the firearms provided. He added that while the copper jacket came from live ammunition, the bullet’s core was missing.
The court scheduled the next hearing for September 25, 2025, at 2 p.m. to allow more witnesses to testify.
Rex Masai was fatally shot during protests against the Finance Bill along Moi Avenue in June 2024, demonstrations that turned violent after clashes between police and protesters, leaving several casualties and sparking public outcry over police use of excessive force.
