Nakuru family cries for justice as kin tortured to death

A family in Nakuru County is crying out for justice after a man was publicly tortured by alleged police officers in Kaloleni estate on September 27.

Alfred King’oina, a matatu driver plying the Njoro-Nakuru route, was pronounced dead upon arriving at a private hospital where his colleagues took him after the harrowing incident.

According to a report by The Standard, persons believed to be plain clothes police offices came in a privately registered pick-up truck to the matatu terminus where King’oina and his colleagues were awaiting their travels. The men picked him up, cuffed him to the vehicles seat and proceeded to beat him up.

“They handpicked him among his colleagues at work. We wonder what daring criminals would do that next to a traffic police roadblock,” said the man’s brother, Robert Osiago.

“We demand justice. There is no way they can convince us that these were criminals and not police officers in civilian clothes. What crime had he committed that they felt he didn’t deserve to be taken to court?”

King’oina’s colleagues raised the alarm in efforts to stop the torture that was being meted on him, but his arresters threatened to turn on them.

“One of them had a pistol, another had handcuffs and the other had a communication radio. Without speaking, one of them started slapping him,” said Griffin Apoko, King’oina’s colleague.

The crowd got charged by the display of arrogance, began shouting at the attackers demanding that they take King’oina to the nearby Kaptembwo Police Station.

“They declined but the crowd threatened to lynch them. The armed man shot in the air but the crowd stood its ground. They uncuffed him, but he collapsed,” said Apoko.

After the ordeal, his fellow matatu operators and alongside other people drawn by the commotion took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to The Standard’s report, Nakuru West sub-County Police Commander Edwin Otieno denied claims that the suspects were police officers, adding that investigations were on. 

King’oina’s family and colelagues are however adamant the persons were plain clothes police officers.

“I want justice for my husband and our three children. He was not a criminal. He worked himself out as a driver to provide for his family. The children as asking me hard questions,” his widow Delphine Nyang’anyi said.

Missing Voices has taken note of this brutal end to King’oina’s life, and will join his family and friends in the quest to unravel the circumstances behind the criminal act.

We urge the National Police Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to probe the incident thoroughly to determine the identities of the attackers, bring them to book and prosecute them in accordance with Kenyan laws.

We reiterate the sanctity of life as enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution, and therefore matters of criminal acts leading to any loss of life should be acted on with the seriousness they deserve.

We wish to send our sincere condolences to King’oina’s family and promise to stay true to our pledge to support their efforts to find justice.