Residents' cry for justice over 'killer cops' in Dagoretti

By James Mwangi

Three years since the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial killings Phillip Alston raised a red flag on executions of young men by the police, the murders seem to be unrelenting in Dagoretti, Nairobi County. 

The on going police reforms appear to have done nothing to stop impunity of trigger-happy wayward law enforcers.

After weeks of investigations, The County Weekly established that in the last three years, more than 75 young men have been killed mercilessly allegedly in the fight against crime. The executions are allegedly spearheaded by a senior police officer attached to Kabete Police Station, Kikuyu, Kiambu County.

The locals have protested the officer’s unlawful actions, calling for his arrest to face the law, but they claim all they get are threats, deaths and young people disappearing without a trace. 

“We no longer talk lest we become targets. If you decry this vice you are in trouble. Ours is to wait and bury our sons because even our leaders have turned a blind eye on this,” lamented a father whose son was killed last year.

The Independent Medico Legal Unit Executive Director Peter Kiama and Kenya Human Rights Commission Chairman Tom Kagwe last year called for the interdiction of the said officer.

The two human rights campaigners protested to the Kabete Police Station when a teenager was tortured to death in the cells. Locals, who fear reprisals and therefore sought anonymity, said numerous cases go unreported.  

Rights groups’ protest

The locals say about 80 people have died under mysterious circumstances that point fingers at rogue officers.

According to residents, the officer has made a habit of picking youth in private cars with different  numbers plates. They are not booked at any police station, but day(s) later a body is discovered a distance away riddled with bullets, torture marks and with ‘falsified’ police reports the person was killed on a hijacking or stealing mission.

The notorious body dumping grounds are said to be the infamous Kinare forest in Limuru, Kikuyu, Ngong, Ongata Rongai, Kiserian, Eastlands, Mau Bridge, Eastern By-Pass and areas neighbouring Dagoretti.

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