Family of slain officer in mistaken identity shooting claim foul play

BY MAUREEN ODIWUOR

Kisumu County: The family of a police officer who died after being shot by his colleagues is under distress as they try to comprehend his mysterious death.

The family of Martin Kinyua, 46, has raised questions as to whether their kin, attached to Litein police station in Kericho, met his death in Kisumu County as a mere accident or his demise was well orchestrated.

Mr Kinyua was shot by police officers based at Boya Police Station, 300 metres away from their base on allegations of mistaken identity.

The deceased, a widower with two children, sustained three gunshot wounds according to a post-mortem examination report. He was in the company of a colleague in a Probox vehicle when the incident occurred.

The two had decided to take refuge at a nearby petrol station after an evening out drinking. According to Kinyua’s friend who accepted to be quoted on anonymity basis, the deceased had escorted a colleague to Kisumu where he went to buy a piece of land.

“My brother and his colleague were very drunk and they decided to park the Probox they were travelling in at the nearest petrol station and rest for a while. The incident took place last Tuesday at 11pm,” he said.

The deceased, seated at the back left, inclined his seat to sleep comfortably but the driver slept with the seat in a sitting position.

“The driver was awakened by noise from gunshots, which made him come out of the car holding his identity as a police officer, having surrendered,” he said.

Suspicious vehicle

An eyewitness said he saw five officers yet the police maintained only two police officers were sent for the assignment when security guards at the police station raised an alarm that a suspicious vehicle had parked outside the premise for long.

“The officers were dressed in civilian. Three held G3 rifles while one had a pistol,” he said.

The witness said after identifying himself, they removed Kinyua from the vehicle and realised he had been shot. He was first rushed to the nearby Ahero Sub-District Hospital before being transferred to New Nyanza Referral Hospital.

“For close to five hours, there was no one to attend to my brother until 5am when an operation was conducted before he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit where he passed on,” said Mr Gichangi.

The deceased’s sister, Caroline Wawera rhetorically asks why the police shot at her brother yet they said they did it to stop the vehicle from leaving the scene.

“If you want to stop a vehicle from moving, do you shoot at the tyres or the driver’s seat,” she queried.

She also questioned why a vehicle whose occupants were dead asleep was sprayed with eight bullets. “Why did the police have to shoot motionless people who were deeply asleep in a vehicle,” asked an emotional Wawera.

Ms Wawera wondered why the security guards informed the police that they saw a vehicle suspected to belong to thieves, yet the petrol station had already been closed.