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Suspect’s schemes to defeat justice backfire

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NICHOLAS KOMU

By NICHOLAS KOMU
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In the eyes of the police, Mr Ibrahim Ndung’u Ndirangu is a man with an insatiable urge for complaints and will use whatever trick to sue any woman who rejects him.

The story of Mr Ndirangu paints the image of a man hell-bent on seeking revenge against those who reject him by using legal channels to frustrate them.

And when the law caught up with him, he devised ways of using legal technicalities to complain against the police, lawyers and even judicial officers who attempted to expose his lies.

A report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) obtained by the Nation shows that Mr Ndirangu not only sued his estranged lovers but also their parents, detectives and senior police officers who went after him for falsifying information.

He is said to have gone to the extent of reporting himself to the police just so he could get grounds to file complaints against them.

“The subject seems to have an insatiable urge for complaints. We are also investigating the possibility that he may have caused complaints to be made against himself so that he may demand the arrest and prosecution of persons purported to have booked them for giving false information,” a letter from the DCI to the Public Complaints Unit of police reads.

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And in recent developments, courts have found him culpable of applying similar gimmicks to delay criminal proceedings against him for three years.

In a ruling issued by High Court Judge Jairus Ngaah, Mr Ndirangu will remain in remand until five out of the 17 criminal offences levelled against him are heard and determined.

He faces 17 counts of forgery and impersonation before two magistrates at the Nyeri Law Courts.

The High Court ruling upheld an earlier decision by Senior Resident Magistrate Ruth Kefa to cancel a bond given to the accused after his case was adjourned a record 18 times since 2016.

He was charged with several counts of forgery and impersonation on October 6, 2016 and granted a Sh3 million bond with surety of similar amount or a cash bail of Sh1 million.

After posting the bond, Mr Ndirangu was released and then the gimmicks to delay the case began.

For the next three years, he came up with a myriad excuses to delay the trial.

When he did not claim that his lawyer was absent, he claimed the prosecution had not supplied him with supporting documents. The excuses kept changing.

In an interesting turn of events, in May 2018 he told the court that his lawyer had died and he needed time to hire a new lawyer.

This was the ninth time the case was being adjourned. For the next one year, the case was adjourned eight more times and when he appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Mutua on June 13, Mr Ndirangu made a drastic move.

He asked the magistrate to recuse himself from the case. This would see the case re-assigned to Senior Resident Magistrate Kefa – who cancelled his bond after he claimed he had not received witness statements.

On Tuesday, Judge Ngaah upheld the cancellation of his bond noting that his motive was to delay the trial.

“My reading of the accused’s conduct would lead me to the same conclusion. Needless to reiterate, if it will take remanding the accused in order for him to appropriate his entitlement of a timely trial as stipulated under article 50(2)(e) of the Constitution, so be it,” Judge Ngaah said.

The man identified by police as a perennial complainant who sues his estranged lovers as payback now faces the challenge of exonerating himself from at least 17 counts of forgery and impersonation.

Investigations now show that Mr Ndirangu made complaints against his two ex-wives and their parents, as well as two other former lovers.

He has also made 12 complaints against police stations where he made the alleged false reports.

In one of the cases he reported at Kasarani Police Station in 2008, he accused one of his ex-wives – Beatrice Njeri – of assaulting him and demanded Sh200,000 as compensation.

In January 2011, he made a similar report at Gichira Police Post in Nyeri claiming that Ms Njeri had assaulted him at her parents’ home when he went to ask her to return to her marital home.

Her parents are said to have rejected his request, leading him to file the report.

Investigations by the DCI show that police at the post took no action on his allegations leading to multiple complaints from Mr Ndirangu over inaction by the officers.

In 2015, he accused the same ex-wife and her uncle of stealing from him.

Again, police at Kasarani Police Station ignored the allegations on the basis that they were fabricated. He also made a complaint against Kasarani Police Station.

Ms Njeri would then write to the Inspector General of Police and the matter was forwarded to the DCI. Investigations revealed that the allegations made by Mr Ndirangu were fabricated.

Recommendations were then made that he and his two witnesses be arrested and charged with conspiracy to defeat justice.

Mr Ndirangu and his witnesses rushed to Muthaiga Police Station and accused DCI officers of abduction.

The DCI report, seen by the Nation, says investigations show that Mr Ndirangu was trying to block police from investigating him.

“It is not clear what the intention of Mr Ndirangu was in making this report, because he seems to be against being investigated,” the report read.

The case the DCI has been keen on is one where Mr Ndirangu is said to have tried to frame his in-laws for allegedly giving police false information.

He is said to have reported himself to the police of theft of Sh60,000. He would then go ahead to complain to the Inspector General of Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that police had failed to arrest him.

On September 20, 2015, a report was made by a person purporting to be John Wachira, Mr Ndirangu’s father-in-law, claiming that he had given Mr Ndirangu Sh35,000 to buy beer but he had vanished with the money. The matter was recorded under OB 18/20/9/2015.

A month later, a complaint supposedly from Mr Wachira was written to the IG and ODPP that police had refused to arrest Mr Ndirangu.

Mr Wachira was then summoned to the Nyeri County DCI offices where he denied making a theft report or complaint to the IG or ODPP.

It was later discovered that Mr Ndirangu made the reports.

The DCI has also been analysing similar cases reported at Voi Police Station and Nyeri Central Police Station against senior police officers and even the media for reporting his cases.

It has also emerged that the DCI is also looking for his accomplice identified as Moses Mwangi Wambui to face other charges of conspiracy to defeat justice after lying that they were abducted by DCI officers.

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