Explosive testimony emerged in the High Court on Monday after a protected prosecution witness revealed how he was allegedly instructed to erase crucial CCTV footage from Nairobi’s Central Police Station following the death of Albert Ojwang while in police custody.
The witness, whose identity has been withheld for security reasons, told the court that instead of deleting specific recordings, he ended up formatting the station’s entire Digital Video Recorder (DVR), permanently wiping all surveillance footage stored on the system.
The technician explained that he had installed the police station’s CCTV surveillance system in 2024 and was well acquainted with its operation, including the passwords and technical procedures required to access the recordings.
According to his testimony, on June 8, 2025, he received a call summoning him to Central Police Station. Upon arrival, he met an officer identified only as “AA” before being introduced to the then Officer Commanding Station (OCS), Samson Talaam.
The officers allegedly instructed him to retrieve or delete CCTV footage captured on June 6 and June 7—the period surrounding Albert Ojwang’s detention and subsequent death.
However, the technician told the court that the surveillance system could not selectively delete footage from specific dates. He explained that the only way to remove those recordings was to format the DVR, a process that would erase every video stored on the hard drive.
After informing the officers of this limitation, the witness claimed he was instructed to proceed with the formatting exercise.
He told the court that once the process was complete, every recording on the system had been permanently erased. Although he confirmed that footage for the requested dates had existed, he insisted that he never watched its contents before resetting the system.
The witness further testified that he was paid KSh3,000 after completing the assignment.
His account did not end there.
The following day, he said he was summoned back to the station and instructed to bring along two new hard drives. He also claimed he was specifically told not to wear clothing that could identify him as a CCTV technician.
When he returned, he was allegedly informed that the replacement hard drives were no longer required. Instead, another individual in the office reportedly handed him KSh20,000 before he left.
The dramatic testimony is part of the prosecution’s case against former Central Police Station OCS Samson Talaam and five other accused persons. They all deny charges of murdering Albert Ojwang and attempting to conceal evidence linked to his death.
As the trial continues, prosecutors say they will rely on witness testimony, forensic findings, and CCTV-related evidence in their bid to establish what happened during the final hours leading to Ojwang’s death while in police custody.
