The inquest into the controversial death of 29-year-old protester Rex Masai has taken a new turn after mobile phone records linked a police officer under investigation to multiple locations in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) on the day of the fatal shooting.
Testifying before a Nairobi court, a Safaricom officer detailed activity from several phone lines associated with Corporal Isaiah Murangiri, the officer accused of firing the shot that killed Masai during anti-finance bill demonstrations on June 20, 2024.
The Phone Trail
According to the testimony, one of Murangiri’s registered numbers was active around St. Ellis House at 11:20 a.m., and again between 3:56 p.m. and 6:21 p.m., before later being picked up by the Kencom site.
“Between 15:39 all the way to 21:20, the number was picked several times by St. Ellis Site apart from one picked at Kencom Site,” the Safaricom officer told the court.
The records indicate a consistent digital footprint in the CBD, overlapping with the timeframe in which Masai was fatally shot.
Multiple Lines, Mixed Signals
The court heard that Murangiri had at least three other phone numbers under his name. One of the lines recorded only a single SMS within the CBD, while a third line showed no activity on June 20.
However, a different number—also linked to him—showed sustained presence in the city on June 18 and 19, with call activity around Windsor House, Accra Road, and Corner House.
In what appears to expand the circle of inquiry, another line registered to Benson Thiru Kamau was recorded at KBC Tower from 5:00 p.m. on the same dates, while a number under the name Michael Okello displayed no activity on June 19.
Contradictions in Testimony
Murangiri had previously claimed that he had “seized” one of the numbers in question. But the Safaricom officer confirmed that as of June 20, 2024, the line was officially registered under Murangiri’s name.
“On the 20th, the number was under the name of Isaiah Murangiri,” the officer testified. “The line was active on June 20, 2024.”
When asked if the same line could have been active a year earlier, in June 2023, the officer said he would need to verify, leaving open questions about historical usage.
Limitations of Phone Data
The Safaricom witness cautioned that mobile data records only reflect proximity to transmission sites, not the subscriber’s exact physical location. A handset may be detected by a nearby mast even if the user is some distance away, depending on signal strength and network coverage.
Still, prosecutors argue that the consistency of Murangiri’s digital trail in the CBD is significant, especially against the backdrop of eyewitness accounts and video evidence placing armed officers near the shooting site.
A Murder Inquest at Crossroads
The Rex Masai inquest has gripped national attention, becoming a test case for police accountability in Kenya. Masai, a graphic designer, was shot as he joined hundreds protesting the contentious finance bill, sparking outrage and igniting the #JusticeForRex movement on social media.
Civil society groups have accused the state of orchestrating a cover-up, pointing to delays, shifting narratives, and the initial reluctance to name any suspect officer. Murangiri’s lawyers, on their part, have dismissed the phone records as “circumstantial, inconclusive, and easily manipulated.”
The inquest will next hear from ballistic experts, after which the court is expected to rule on whether Murangiri should face murder charges or if the case collapses into yet another unresolved instance of police violence.
For now, however, the phone data places Murangiri squarely in the CBD on the day Rex Masai was gunned down—a fact likely to weigh heavily as the inquest edges toward a crucial conclusion.
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