Key Witness in Albert Ojwang Murder Stephen Maina Nderitu Dies From Ulcers

Stephen Maina Nderitu, a police officer attached to the Officer Commanding Station office at Nairobi Central Police Station, collapses and dies on 7 September 2026 hours after leaving work. The key witness dies just as the Ojwang case reaches a tense stage where his planned testimony on the CCTV hard drive after Albert Ojwang died in that cell was set to land in court.

He never reached the box. The report lists ulcers and a stopped heart along with depression. A recorded statement from the man sits ready. Yet the living voice that could connect former OCS Samson Talam to what happened to the hard drive is gone. Families of the dead and living feel the weight of that empty chair at Kibera Law Courts, where the murder trial of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang continues.

Nderitu worked right inside the station where Ojwang arrived alive on the evening of 7 June 2025. Officers had driven the 30-year-old from his home in Kakoth near Homa Bay, more than 350 kilometres from Nairobi, after a complaint about posts on social media. By the early hours of 8 June, Ojwang left the cells unresponsive.

Staff at Mbagathi Hospital declared him dead. Pathologists who examined the body on 10 June found severe head injuries from blunt force neck compression and bruises across the torso and limbs. Those findings buried the first police story that Ojwang had harmed himself against a cell wall.

Prosecutors charged Talam along with constables Peter Kimani and James Mukhwana, plus three civilians. Independent Policing Oversight Authority teams recovered deleted footage that the Digital Video Recorder had been formatted inside the OCS office at 7:30 in the morning on 8 June.

The images show Ojwang walking into the station at about 9:23PM that Saturday night. Later frames capture officers carrying an unresponsive form out around 1:20am the next morning. Nderitu held knowledge of the days that followed when the hard drive went missing. Investigators already took his statement that mapped those steps.

Why Did the Key Witness Die Before Giving Evidence?

The postmortem report attributes the death to acute cardiac arrest and depression after he left duty on 7 September.

That medical finding arrived as the prosecution prepared to call him. He was meant to stand and explain the chain of events around the surveillance system. Colleagues at Central Police Station knew him as the officer who could speak to the office routines.

Suddenly that link snaps. People who follow the trial at Kibera notice the silence. One moment the witness list includes his name. The next moment only the paper statement remains.

Lawyers on both sides must now argue whether that paper can enter the record or whether hearsay rules will shut it out. The kitchen table of evidence grows heavier without the living account.

Ojwang left behind a young son and parents who still wait for answers. His father, Meshack, spoke outside the station in the days after the death about the bruises he saw on his son’s body. Public anger filled Nairobi streets in June 2025.

Protesters demanded the truth about the night inside those cells. IPOA pressed forward. Recovered cameras showed movements through dim corridors and the searching area.

Two men in caps appeared near the holding cells. Officers in blue gloves later carried the body. Nderitu was positioned to fill the gaps between those images and the decisions made higher up the command chain.

What Happens to the Recorded Statement in the Ongoing Trial

Prosecutors will decide how far the earlier statement can travel in court without the speaker present to face questions.

The loss lands hard on the timeline. Trial hearings began in July 2026 with forensic experts walking judges through the recovered files. Joshua Mutua of IPO A described the deliberate formatting and the successful recovery of nearly 500 gigabytes of images.

Alon Okwako, the technician, told of finding the device switched off and hard drives removed. Now the human link that could have named names around the hard drive removal is absent. Defense teams will press every angle. The statement still exists, yet its power shrinks when no one sits in the box to confirm every line under oath.

Nairobi residents who followed the original outrage remember the speed of the first official claims and the later retractions. Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised for early misinformation. Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat stepped aside. Six officers faced interdiction.

The case moved from the station cells to the courtroom, yet each new setback reminds everyone how fragile the path to judgement can feel. Nderitu left work on an ordinary Monday.

Hours later the report of ulcers and a stopped heart closed his chapter. Burial plans take shape for the coming week. His colleagues and the Ojwang family share the same heavy air around the next hearing dates.

The hard data keeps stacking. Arrest on 7 June 2025. Death declared on 8 June. Autopsy on 10 June. Recovered footage showing arrival at 9:23 pm and removal near 1:26 am. Formatting timed to 7:30 am on 8 June inside the OCS office.

Statement already on file from the officer who knew the station routines. Sudden death on 7 September 2026. Each number tightens the picture, yet the missing voice leaves a hole no document fully fills.