Borabu family demands justice after police allegedly beat kin to death
A family in Borabu, Nyamira County is appealing for justice after their kin was allegedly beaten to death by police.
The family said that the late Franklin Mong’are had gone to the Office of the area Assistant Chief to secure the release of his motorcycle that had been impounded earlier.
Citizen TV reported eyewitnesses to say that administration police officers at the chief’s office descended on him with blows and beat him to a pulp, leaving him with broken bones and a cracked skull.
The victim later succumbed to his injuries at the Tenwek Mission Hospital, where he had been rushed to receive treatment.
“On 27th December at around 6:00AM, I received a phone call from my son telling me that his brother had been admitted in hospital. His skull was crushed irreversibly,” said Moses Mong’are, the victim’s father.
Witnesses said Franklin had been pleading with the officers to release him from a room where he had been locked, before the officers descended upon him.
“He pleaded with them to let him go, asking them what crime he had committed. One police officer kicked the door open and dragged him out before throwing him to the floor and beating him up,” said Violet Kwamboka, an eyewitness.
A somber mood has engulfed the village since, as friends and relatives camp at Mong’are’s homestead not only to plan for Franklin’s burial, but also deliberate on ways to find justice for the crime.
“The death of this young man was caused by people who are supposed to protect him. Instead of protecting life, the administration police officers took a life,” said Fransis Mokua, the victim’s uncle.
Missing Voices has taken note of Franklin’s killing, and will remain a loud voice in the quest to find justice.
We urge the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to take up the matter as soon as possible, and in collaboration with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations conduct investigations and open criminal proceedings against the officers involved in the heinous act.
We continue to stress the sanctity of human life, and urge all government security agencies to protect life, not end it.
We demand that the victims face the full wrath of the law in accordance with the Constitution.
