NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 7 – Five police officers will be charged with murder in Mombasa on Wednesday following the death of a detainee at Changamwe Police Station.
This follows an investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) which indicted them.
They are accused of having assaulted the detainee before they took him to hospital.
In a statement, IPOA’s Chairperson Anne Makori said, the deceased Caleb Ospino Otieno was arrested on September 18, 2018 and taken to the station on suspicion of being in possession of illicit brew but he was later transferred from cell to Coast General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“The investigation established that Mr. Otieno’s death was occasioned by multiple injuries inflicted by a blunt force,” she stated.
Makori pointed out that the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji, independently reviewed IPOA’s investigation file and acceded to the recommendations.
“Four of the five officers have since been placed in state custody in preparation for arraignment at the High Court in Nairobi,” Makori said.
The five officers include, Khalif Abdulahi, James Muli, Joseph Adhiambo, Edward Kongo and Nelson Nkanae.
Such cases are common in police stations and IPOA has been recommending charges against those who are found culpable.
Just last week, six police officers were charged with murder over the deaths in custody of two brothers arrested for allegedly breaking COVID-19 curfew in Embu.
The killing of 22-year-old Benson Njiru Ndwiga and 19-year-old Emmanuel Mutura Ndwiga provoked a national outcry and sometimes violent demonstrations complaining of police brutality.
The six officers — two of them women — denied the charges at a hearing in Nairobi and were ordered to be kept in custody until a bail hearing on September 22.
The brothers were last seen alive on August 1 when they were picked up by police for allegedly being outdoors beyond the nationwide 10:00 pm curfew.
Their bodies were discovered two days later by family members at the local morgue in Embu County in central Kenya, according to rights groups.
Police said the pair jumped from a moving vehicle — a claim rejected by their family and activists. An autopsy found they had suffered injuries to their heads and ribs, according to media reports.
Activists have reported 25 cases of extrajudicial killings linked to Covid measures, according to the statement signed by Amnesty International and Transparency International, among other organizations.
Missing Voices, a campaign group focused on extrajudicial killings in Kenya said there had been 834 deaths at the hands of police since it began collecting data in 2017, and 227 enforced disappearances.
In another curfew case, police said they were investigating the alleged beating to death of a 38-year-old motorcycle taxi driver in mid-August.
The discovery of his body in the eastern Nairobi district of Kayole also set off violent protests, with roads blockaded by fires and mobs of youths looting shops.
