EMBU, Kenya, Aug 6- The postmortem examination report on the bodies of the two Embu brothers who died in unclear circumstances after they arrested by police is out and the next focus is to establish the circumstances that led to their death.
Police say the two brothers jumped out of a moving police vehicle on the night of August 1, after they were arrested for being out past the curfew hours- which is one of the measures put in place by the goverment to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease.
Pathologists and investigators say the next phase will be crucial since it will establish whether the August 1 incident was accidental, suicidal or homicidal.
Benson Njiru Ndwiga, 22, and Emmanuel Mutura Ndwiga, 19, had just closed their butchery when they got arrested by the police.
Three days later on August 3, their bodies were found at the Embu Level Five mortuary.
Their parents had reported them as missing at Runyenjes police station. They had been arrested by police from Manyatta police station.
-Details of the postmortem examination-
According to an autopsy report seen by Shahidi News, the two Embu brothers died from broken ribs and head injuries caused by a blunt object. The autopsy was conducted on Thursday.
It was done by three different Pathologists: Dr Martha Mwangi who represented the family, Dr Ndegwa represented lobby group, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) and Dr Doris Namu who represented Embu Hospital. Others were Dr Peter Muturi and Dr Kamau Wangari.
Mutura, according to the report died as a result of, “severe head injury due to blunt force trauma.” His brother, the report indicated died due to “multiple injuries secondary to blunt force trauma.”
The pathologists also obtained samples to be subjected into further examination.
-Call For Justice-
Nineteen lobby groups among them Amnesty International-Kenya, IMLU, Haki Africa, Katiba Institute, Kenya Human Rights Commission, the Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya) have called for justice of the two brothers.
In a statement on Thursday, they welcomed the move by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to dispatch a team of investigators from Nairobi to Embu, in a bid to unravel the truth.
“We sadly note that this is not the first death arising out of police enforcement of COVID-19 measures. Indeed, a number of our members have published reports of deaths caused by police while enforcing these measures,” the 19 lobby groups said in a joint statement.
“Further, we note that suspicious deaths in police custody are one of the circumstances in which the Coroner’s Office under a Coroner-General, would have been called upon to carry out an autopsy, preservation, and analysis of other evidence to ascertain the cause of death including whether they were tortured. Sadly, the National Coroners Service Act 2017 has not been operationalized since its passage in 2017.”
The lobby groups under the Police Working Group-Kenya cautioned police against acting outside the law and instead work within their mandate that is among others to promote peace, human dignity and their freedoms as enshrined in the constitution.
They further called on the Attorney General and Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i to “immediately set up the law to enhance justice and police accountability in Kenya.”
“Furthermore, the PRWG-K calls upon the Inspector General of the NPS to enforce the Sixth Schedule of the National Police Service Act which requires police officers to provide medical assistance when serious injury results from the use of force; and obligates officers to report to superiors and IPOA when death and serious injury results from their actions. The law makes failure to do so a criminal offence which investigators, IPOA, ODPP and the Judiciary should begin enforcing,” the Police Working Group-Kenya said.
IPOA said the move to send officers from Nairobi was to compliment the work of those based in Embu and fastrack the investigations.
“Upon conclusion of the investigations and pursuant to Section 6(a) of the IPOA Act, the Authority will make recommendations, including prosecution if criminal culpability is established on the part of the police officers involved,” IPOA chairperson Anne Makori said in a statement on Thursday.
A police vehicle was torched during protests that ensued after the death of the two university students while a person was shot dead on Thursday by the police.
“The Authority also discourages members of the public from taking the law into their hands by attacking the police and damaging public property as was illustrated yesterday. In this regard, IPOA calls for public calmness and restraint as it undertakes thorough investigations into the matter,” Makori said.
Similar appeals were made by the Police Working Group-Kenya, saying members of the public should desist from taking the law into their hands “as we push the justice actors to speed up investigation and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book. We also call upon them to assist the police with information relevant in the investigations.”
Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has since directed the Internal Affairs Unit to probe the death of the 2 brothers.
The Independent Medico Legal Unit says it has documented at least 25 cases of extra-judicial killings and 43 cases of torture and ill-treatment since March 20, 2020, when stringent COVID-19 disease preventive measures were adopted.
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