NAIROBI, Kenya – The inquest into the death of 29-year-old protester Rex Masai took a dramatic turn Monday after a senior firearms examiner testified that the bullet fragment recovered from the scene was fired from a rifle, not a pistol, as previously suggested.
Senior Superintendent Alex Mdindi Mwandawiro of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) told a Nairobi court that the damaged bullet jacket presented to him by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) was consistent with rifle ammunition.
“The fragment bore right-hand twist engravings and a large engraved area, but its core was missing. It weighed 0.38 grams and could only have come from a rifle round,” Mwandawiro testified.
He ruled out the pistols submitted by police for testing, explaining that they were of a different calibre and could not have discharged the fatal shot.
Instead, he said, the exhibit matched rifles such as the AK-1, Israeli Galil, or Kenya’s locally produced Chalbi.
However, Mwandawiro admitted under cross-examination that his findings were inconclusive, as none of the rifles capable of firing the bullet were presented for testing.
“The bullet did not pass through the pistols we received. My duty was simply to examine the exhibits submitted,” he said.
In a further twist, the officer revealed that although he had been given three pistols for analysis, one firearm went missing before the examination was completed.
The testimony also directly contradicts earlier statements that no live rounds were fired during the anti-tax protests in which Masai was killed.
“My examination revealed that the damaged jacket was part of a rifled bullet, not rubber,” Mwandawiro told trial magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo.
The inquest continues, with IPOA expected to face renewed scrutiny over its handling of the exhibits and police accountability during the protests.
