An inquest into the death of 29-year-old protester Rex Masai continued on Monday September 15, 2025 with  a senior firearms examiner revealing that the bullet fragment taken for examination by IPOA for examination did not match the pistols submitted by police for testing.

Testifying before the Nairobi court, Senior Superintendent Alex Mdindi Mwandawiro from the DCI headquarters told the inquest that the damaged bullet jacket handed over by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (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 protests where Masai was shot.

Testifying before trial magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo in the ongoing inquest, Senior Superintendent of Police and firearms examiner Alex Mdindi 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 rifled bullet, not rubber,” he said. 

At the same time, a Safaricom officer testifying in the inquest into the death of Rex Masai revealed mobile phone records that placed Isaiah Murangiri at key locations within Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) during the period under investigation.

According to the records, Murangiri’s number was active on June 20, 2024, at St. Ellis House between 11:20 a.m. and later from 3:56 p.m. to 6:21 p.m., before being traced to Kencom.

“Between 15:39 all the way to 21:20 the number was picked severally by St.Ellis Site apart from one picked at Kencom Site,” he testified

The court further heard that while one of Murangiri’s other registered numbers showed only a single SMS within the CBD, and a third number carried no data, a separate line produced data captures between June 18 and 19. These included call activity at Windsor House, Accra Road, and Corner House, indicating sustained presence in the city centre.

Another line, registered to Benson Thiru Kamau, was logged at the KBC Tower from 5:00 p.m. on the same days, while a number under Michael Okello showed no activity on June 19.

During cross-examination, Murangiri had earlier claimed he had “seized” the number in question. When asked if it was possible for the line to have been active a year earlier — in June 2023 — the officer said he would need to verify the records. However, he confirmed that, based on the details presented before the court, the registered owner of the number as at the time of the court order was Isaiah Murangiri.   

 “On the 20th, the number was under the name of Isaiah Murangiri,” the officer testified. “The line was active on June 20, 2024.”