A British woman has officially written to Inspector General Japhet Koome, DCI boss Mohamed Amin, and Interior PS Raymond Omollo, accusing police officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) of unlawfully detaining her in connection with a long-standing family property dispute.
According to the complaint, the incident happened on July 15, when the woman, accompanied by her husband and two young children, was stopped at passport control.
Despite showing a valid High Court order, she claims she was taken into custody by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and held in a small office for over eight hours.
She alleges that her detention was not just random, but part of an organized effort to intimidate her and force her to give up her legal role as the executor of a contested estate. The estate is reportedly the subject of a drawn-out legal battle involving her and several individuals with competing interests.
While being held, the woman says she received an email from a lawyer representing one of the opposing parties in the estate dispute. The email allegedly pressured her to drop the ongoing legal case and hand over the estate to a trust controlled by one of the disputants.
“I was locked up for more than eight hours inside a DCI office at JKIA, right in front of my young children. I was constantly threatened with jail, denied access to a lawyer, and was never told the reason for my detention,” she said in her statement.
She also claims the email had a threatening tone, warning her that if she did not cooperate, she would be detained overnight at Central Police Station in Nairobi.
Later that evening, she was transferred to the JKIA Police Station and finally released at about 10:30 p.m. without any charges being filed.
In her petition, the woman insists that her brief arrest amounted to a violation of her basic constitutional rights.
She lists several rights she says were infringed, including freedom from arbitrary arrest, personal dignity, fair administrative treatment, the rights of detainees, the protection of children, and the freedom to move freely.
She is now demanding an independent investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to look into the conduct of the officers involved in her arrest and treatment.
In addition, she has urged the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to take disciplinary action against both government officers and private individuals allegedly involved in the unlawful attempt to pressure her.
She also wants contempt of court proceedings initiated due to the disregard of the High Court order she had presented.
“I respectfully reserve my full legal rights under Article 22 of the Constitution to pursue the enforcement of the Bill of Rights.
If no timely and appropriate action is taken in response to my complaint, I will consider pursuing legal options such as seeking court declarations, injunctions, or judicial review, at a time and place of my choosing,” she added in her petition.
The incident has raised concerns over the misuse of state machinery in private disputes and sparked fresh debate about the treatment of foreign nationals and their rights under Kenyan law.
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