NAIROBI: Journalist Arshad Sharif died 30 minutes after the vehicle thathad been reported missing by a man identified as Douglas Wainaina Kamau wasfound, as Geo and The News can reveal now.
Speaking to Geo News, Douglas Wainaina Kamau narrated that he was the ownerof a Mercedes Benz Sprinter 311 with the registration number (KDJ 700F) andthat he had reported it missing at a police station known as Pangani on Oct23, 2022. Douglas deals in the business of floriculture.
He said that he had left his son Duncan inside the vehicle on Sunday, March23, 2022, and left to run some errands but found his vehicle missing whenhe returned to where he had parked it.
“I went to buy a few items in the nearby shops, and when I came back, Icould not locate my car, where I had left it with my son. I called himseveral times, but my calls went unanswered, and I became suspicious thatsomething could have gone wrong,” he said.
It was after he had gotten tired of waiting for his 27-year-old son Duncanthat Wainaina went and recorded a statement at a police station calledPangani, which is based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi County.
Geo News can authoritatively report that police officers released thenumber of the report as Occurrence Book number 70 on Oct 23, 2022. Douglasasked that he meet the top cop at the station, which he did, and was laterreferred to the office of police investigations.
Once he shared his problem with the investigating officers, they told himthat they would head with him to where the vehicle had been located. Allthis time, journalist Arshad Sharif was seated and mingling with severalAmerican instructors and his friend Khurram Ahmad at the shooting clubknown as AmmoDump Kwenia.
The officers left the Pangani Police Station for the Rongai-Kiserian Road,where the vehicle’s signal was indicating. The distance from the station tothe Rongai-Kiserian Road is 31.4 kilometers.
The police arrived at the petrol station, and just before they could launchthe search for the vehicle, the son called and explained that he haddecided to go and check on his mother and wife. Douglas told him (his son)to drive the vehicle to the petrol station, which he did, but when hearrived at the petrol station, the officers refused to release him andinstead said that the duo should go back to the station.
As the team left for the Pangani police station, Khurram Ahmad and theslain journalist were also on their way to the Nairobi County, approachingMagadi Road in a Toyota Land Cruiser with the registration number (KDG200M).
On the way, they approached an area allegedly blocked by stones, and theblockade was being manned by officers under the General Service Unit’s(GSU) command. GSU is a paramilitary wing of the Kenya Police. Kenya PoliceService comprises highly trained officers specialising in counter-terrorismand firearms use.
A statement by the police made at the Magadi Police Station stated thatthey were asked to stop, but instead Khurram Ahmad went on driving aftercrossing the road blockade, which led to a serious shootout that killedArshad Sharif.
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Ahmed and the deceased were driving along the Kwenia-Kamukuru rough road,and before they reached the Kiserian-Magadi Road, they found the roadblocked using small stones, and they decided to pass them,” the policereport filed in Kenya on the shooting read.
“At that point, they heard gunshots fired from the front and rear of theirvehicle. They did not stop and continued with the journey.”
Khurram called his brother Waqar Ahmed, who resides in Tinga, and informedhim about the incident, and he advised them to pass by his place on arrivalat the main gate, he found his brother had died of a gunshot wound in thehead,” the report added.
One hour after the murder incident had been reported, Douglas, his sonDuncan, and the officers arrived at the Pangani Police Station.
His son was booked on OB number 90/23/10/2022, and the father was listed asthe complainant. The father left the station, and the following morning hewent back to the station, where an officer asked him to record a statementover the theft of the vehicle.
He pleaded with them to let the son go free because he did not want to goahead with the case, but he was informed that a shooting had occurred inrelation to the report he had made at the station.
The police then prepared a charge sheet and produced Duncan to Makadara LawCourt on Wednesday, Oct 24. However, the father said that he was notinterested in proceeding with the case and that they would solve it out ofcourt. This was granted, and the son was set free. Duncan was rearrestedand taken back to court the following day, as police requested that theyhold him for more days as they conducted investigations into the death ofArshad Sharif, but the judge refused. The judge further ordered that thevehicle be released to the owner, but Geo News has established that Douglashas never been given the car since then. Through his lawyer, Douglas toldGeo News that the main reason he penned a written statement was to informpeople that he was not in any way involved in the shooting that led to thedeath of Arshad Sharif.
The lawyer who represented him in court, known as Elisha Ndemo of E.M.Ndemo and co-advocates told Geo News that the accounts were factual.“Indeed, the accounts happened as narrated when I represented him incourt,” lawyer Elisha Ndemo told Geo News.
Here is the countdown of how events unravelled on that fateful day: 1. TheMercedes Benz went missing at 7 pm. 2. Douglas reported the incident at7:20 pm. 3. His son was found in Kiserian at 9:30 pm. 4. His vehicle wasfound in Kiserian at 9:30 pm. 5. Arshad Sharif was killed just after 10:00pm.