New twist as court told pistols submitted in Rex Masai case didn't match fatal bullet

The inquest into the death of 29-year-old protester Rex Masai continued on Monday, with a senior firearms examiner revealing that the bullet fragment taken for examination by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) for examination did not match the pistols submitted by police for testing and must have come from a live rifle round.

Testifying before the Nairobi court, Senior Superintendent Alex Mdindi Mwandawiro of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters told the inquest that the damaged bullet jacket handed over by IPOA on July 1, 2024, was part of a rifle cartridge weighing 0.38 grams.

“The fragment bore right-hand twist engravings and a large engraved area, but its core was missing,” he said.

Mwandawiro ruled out the pistols submitted from DCI Central Police Station, explaining that they were of a different calibre and could not have discharged the fatal shot.

Instead, he said, the exhibit was consistent with rifles such as the Russian AK-1, the Israeli Galil, or Kenya’s locally produced Chalbi rifle.

But the officer admitted under cross-examination that his findings were inconclusive, as none of the firearms capable of firing the bullet had actually been presented for testing.

“The bullet did not pass through the pistols we received. My duty was simply to examine the exhibits submitted,” he said.

In a startling disclosure, Mwandawiro also told the court that he had been supplied with three pistols for analysis — but one was missing.

Even more significantly, he testified that the bullet fragment recovered by IPOA must have originated from a live round, directly contradicting earlier testimonies that no live ammunition was fired during the maandamano protests where Masai was shot.

Testifying before trial magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo in the ongoing inquest, Mwandawiro said a bullet fragment recovered from the scene bore all the characteristics of a live rifle round.

“My examination revealed that the damaged jacket was part of a riffled bullet, not rubber,” he said