DPP, IPOA oppose plea to exhume bodies of 2 Kianjokoma brothers

DPP, IPOA oppose plea to exhume bodies of 2 Kianjokoma brothers

The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) have now stated that exhuming the bodies of the Kianjokoma brothers will cause untold anguish to their family.

According to the two IPOA and the DPP, the family is already dealing with the untold pain of losing two children who had been arrested in Embu, only to be discovered dead, days later.

The two investigating bodies were filing their responses in an urgent court matter in which, six police officers facing murder charges applied to have the bodies exhumed for an autopsy.

The six, through their lawyers, requested a new autopsy, arguing that the ‘blunt force trauma’ cause of death determined in the earlier autopsies could have been the result of falling out of a moving vehicle.

According to the petitioners, the two brothers, Benson Njiru, 22, and Emmanuel Mutura, 19, died after jumping out of a moving police van.

According to court papers filed in court, the investigating officer claims that he interviewed and recorded statements regarding the incident that led to the deaths of the two.

The officer said the two had been assaulted by the six officers during their arrests.

“It was clear from the witness statements that the deceased persons had been assaulted by the petitioners during their arrest, “reads the affidavit

In an affidavit, Ibrahim Abukur Shunu, the senior investigation officer with IPOA, claims that the allegation that the circumstances of the case can only be determined through a public inquest is misleading and without foundation because the DPP has sole authority to initiate criminal proceedings.

According to the officer, investigations revealed that on August 1st, around 10.30 p.m., the two brothers were at Kiajakoma Trading Centre on their way home with their friends when one of the brothers spotted a police vehicle parked around a corner.

He claims that when the friends of the deceased saw a police officer dressed in civilian clothes and armed with a long stick on patrol approaching the direction they were in, they alerted their friends and decided to run back in the direction they had come from in order to avoid arrest for violating curfew orders.

It is his argument that as they were running one of the brothers trippers caused him to lag behind and that a friend of the second deceased noticed that the second deceased kept looking behind and at one point they heard a loud bang as if something had been hit, at which point the second deceased turned and walked towards where they had left his brother.

According to the investigating officer, the police officers who were in pursuit of the two brothers and their two friends arrested them, assaulted them, and then bundled them into a police vehicle with the registration number GKB 277T, a Toyota Land Cruiser.

‘That the police officers thereafter continued with their patrol duties within Kianjakoma , Kiriari and Buvori after which they later went back to Manyatta Police Station to place the arrested persons in the police cells,”reads the affidavit.

Later, the investigating officer claims that the bodies of the two brothers were discovered dead along Kiriari-Mbuvori Road by arresting officers who claimed that the two brothers died while attempting to escape arrest by jumping out of a moving vehicle.

Meanwhile, the officers are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday to enter a plea in the murder case after the court denied their request to have the prosecution hear their case before charging them.

Tags:

Embu brothers Kianjokoma Brothers

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories