Nairobi, Kenya — Safaricom call data has placed police officer Corporal Isaiah Murangiri in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) during the anti-finance bill protests in June 2024, contradicting his claim that he had stopped using the mobile number in question a year earlier.
Appearing before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo at the Milimani Law Courts, Safaricom senior manager Zachary Kirogoi Mburu testified that the company released call records for three lines linked to Murangiri, Benson Kamau and Michael Oginga Okello after receiving two court production orders.
According to Mburu, the records showed the numbers were active between June 18 and 20, 2024, with signals bouncing off masts in several parts of the CBD, including Kencom, Accra House, Wincer House, St. Ellis, KBC Towers and Hill Town.
“The network automatically connects to the nearest available mast within a five-kilometre radius. A subscriber may remain in one spot, yet different masts will still capture the signal,” Mburu explained.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence directly placed Murangiri in the CBD at the time of the protests, undermining his defence.
The hearing also heard from a forensic ballistics expert, Senior Superintendent Alex Mudindi Mwandawiro of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
He confirmed that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) had submitted a damaged copper bullet jacket for testing on July 1, 2024.
Mwandawiro identified the 0.83-gram fragment as part of a 5.56mm rifle round that had struck a hard object, leaving its core missing.
However, ballistic comparisons with several firearms, including three pistols from the DCI armoury, yielded no match.
He noted that the Ceska F7226 pistol mentioned in IPOA’s documents was not among the weapons provided for testing.
Rifles typically issued to police and wildlife rangers, such as the Chalbi and AK-101 models, were also excluded since they use different calibres.
“The findings were inconclusive because the firearms supplied were of different calibres, and the bullet jacket did not match any of the pistols presented,” Mwandawiro told the court.
The case, part of the inquest into the killing of protester Rex Masai, will be mentioned again on September 25, 2025.
Masai was fatally shot along Moi Avenue on June 20, 2024, during nationwide demonstrations against the finance bill.
Murangiri, along with other officers, has been named in connection with the shooting, as investigators seek to piece together events through mobile phone data, ballistic evidence, and eyewitness accounts.
