Two students, journalists assaulted after Kisii road crash

Rioters engage police in running battles along Kisii-Sotik highway after two students were killed along the highwa, Friday. [PHOTO: Denish Ochieng/ Standard ]

Kisii, Kenya: Two students from Gusii Institute of Technology died in a road accident while two journalists were assaulted by police as they covered the incident.

Witnesses say a traffic police officer impounded a lorry and chose to drive it to the police station but accidentally crashed into the two students outside the institution’s gate.

The officer is said to have impounded the lorry carrying electric poles at Bobaracho area along the Kisii-Sotik Road and opted to drive it to Kisii Central Police Station when the accident happened.

Police arrived at the scene around 7.30pm, almost two hours after the accident and immediately began shooting in the air to disperse the angry crowd. The crowd mostly students, engaged a contingent of Administration Police officers and those from Kenya police in running battles as they protested on the Kisii-Sotik highway.

Bodies of the two students remained uncollected till around 9am yesterday when police picked them.

Chief Inspector of police, David Thimba, based in Suneka, was injured in the fracas and his rifle stolen. Three civilians also sustained gun injuries and are being treated at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dr Enock Ondari, said the three victims who had been admitted to the hospital were stable.

“We have one middle-aged man with a bullet in his left thigh and two with broken bones. The victims are in stable condition,” said Ondari.

Yesterday after the bodies of the students were collected, the crowd burnt down the lorry and a number of vehicles that were parked at a nearby petrol station. They also vandalised a number offices within filling station.

On the assault on journalists, regional police coordinator Willy Lugusa, said a report on the assault on journalists had been filed and that investigations were under way. However, Lugusa added that initial reports indicated that the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident managed to escape and denied claims that it was a police officer who was on the wheels during the accident.

“It is not possible that it was the police officer who was driving because we do not allow our officers to drive such vehicles,” he said.

County Commander Simon Kiragu, confirmed the incident and promised that he would launch investigations into the attack on journalists by police.

The two journalists who were reportedly assaulted are photographers, Denish Ochieng’ (The Standard) and Benson Momanyi (Nation).

Although Kenya has historically boasted one of the freest and most vibrant media environments on the continent, the government has moved, in recent past, to pass laws that media practitioners say will inhibit journalists from reporting freely.

Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) secretary general Eric Oduor said the union was appalled by the action of the police “The assault on journalists will not deter members of the Fourth Estate from exposing evils in police service, but will act as motivation to play its role of informing the public,” said Oduor.

The killing and attacks raises concern with a number of journalists based in several other parts of the country having been either threatened, intimidated and physically assaulted.