NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 7-Two police officers based at Rioma in Kisii County have been positively identified as those who fatally assaulted a boda boda operator on June 23, sparking a wave of protests in the area.
The boda boda operator was identified as a 28 year-old Eric Achando.
Already, Shahidi News has established that their file has been forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for review.
Internal Affairs Unit investigators recommended that the two officers are charged in court with murder.
Achando was being held at the station awaiting to be transferred to a prison facility, after he failed to raise a court fine amounting to Sh8,000.
He had been arrested for allegedly flouting COVID-19 rules.
But police said he fell sick while in custody, but relatives and locals refuted the claims and instead resulted to protests that turned violent.
“He was seriously injured by policemen on patrol,” an investigator who sought anonymity told Shahidi News.
Shahidi News has established that though the boda boda operator had been arrested for flouting COVID-19 rules, he was charged with traffic related offences.
“He was charged with driving a motorbike without insurance and failure to wear a reflector jacket,” a court official privy with the charges told Shahidi News.
He pleaded guilty to all the charges and was slapped with a Sh8,000 fine or a 3-month imprisonment.
Having failed to raise the fine, he was held at the station awaiting to be transferred to a prison facility within Kisii.
Shahidi News has also established that he collapsed and died while in the police cells on June 26, a day after he was rushed to hospital, after felling unconscious.
While the police report indicated that he succumbed while undergoing treatment, medics at the Marani Sub-County hospital told Shahidi News that he was already dead, when they received him.
An autopsy report confirmed that the deceased died as a result of being hit by a blunt object “which caused severe head injuries.”
Two people including a 16-year-old girl were shot dead during protests over his death.
Four other people are said to have sustained gunshot injuries during the protests and currently recuperating in hospital.
The two officers were positively identified by witnesses during a parade supervised by the Internal Affairs Unit Director Mohammed Amin.
On Wednesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi and Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai went to Rioma, in an attempt to bridge the severed relationship between police and the locals.
Matiang’i had on Monday during the opening of the Inspector General of police’s conference asuured residents that action would be atken against officers who break the law.
“I want to commit to the public that we will act and take decisions in the direction that the investigation is going to show us. If there are officers who were involved in making mistakes they will of course face the full force of the law,” he said.
Tension has remained high for weeks, as locals call for justice.
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