NAIROBI, Kenya – The High Court has rejected a petition seeking to compel the prosecution of police officers allegedly involved in the death of Beasley Kogi Kamau during the June 2024 Gen Z protests in Nairobi’s Central Business District.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Bahati Mwamuye, the court found that the petitioners — Kamau’s family — had not presented sufficient evidence directly linking police officers to the fatal injuries the 22-year-old protester sustained.
“The petitioners appear to rely on circumstantial evidence that it was the police who caused Kamau’s death using a baton to fracture his skull and ribs. However, there is no evidence whatsoever to show that these injuries were caused by the police while dispersing protesters,” Justice Mwamuye stated.
Kamau’s sister, Beatrice Muthoni, filed the petition with support from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU).
The respondents included former Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei, then-Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome, the Attorney-General, the Office of the Inspector-General, and the National Police Service.
The petitioners accused the State of failing to investigate, discipline, and prosecute those responsible for Kamau’s death, which they claimed resulted from a police assault during a demonstration against the controversial Finance Bill on June 25, 2024.
A post-mortem report indicated Kamau died from blunt force trauma to the head and chest.
However, the court found that the evidence presented did not satisfy the legal threshold for ordering prosecution, citing the lack of eyewitness testimony or direct attribution of the injuries to named officers.
According to Muthoni, Kamau’s friends last saw him alive near I&M Bank on Kenyatta Avenue around 1:00 pm, but they refused to testify in court or swear affidavits out of fear.
His body was later taken to the morgue by officers from Kamukunji Police Station at around 8:00 pm.
“I have evaluated all the evidence on record and found none proving that the respondents are in any way connected to Kamau’s death,” Justice Mwamuye ruled. “The fact that some police officers may have used excessive or lethal force does not, in itself, establish who inflicted the fatal injuries or whether they were caused by the police or members of the public.”
The judge also noted that police had already concluded preliminary investigations and forwarded the file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), which recommended a public inquest instead of immediate prosecution.
“The law is clear that courts should be slow to interfere with the ODPP’s constitutional discretion to prosecute,” the judge said, emphasizing that the petitioners had not demonstrated a basis for the court to override that discretion.
Kamau’s death became one of the rallying cries of the 2024 Gen Z-led protests, which were marred by incidents of police violence and are still under scrutiny by human rights organizations.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) is among the bodies still investigating several cases involving alleged use of excessive force during the protests.
