UoN student died from suffocation, post-mortem shows

By MOSES MICHIRA

NAIROBI, KENYA: An autopsy has showed that the slain University of Nairobi student who died last week had committed suicide in a police cell even as different investigators were called in to lead the probe into how the death occurred.

The post-mortem examination revealed that Erastus Abok suffering from suffocation to his brain cells, a condition known as asphyxia in medical terms- according to sources involved in the analysis.

He used a power cable in his cell to strangle himself after he was arrested for a failed attempt to bomb part of the university, the investigators said.

His family was however not satisfied with the findings prompting another round of analysis.

Samples from Abok's body however were Wednesday sent to the government chemist to determine if he could have died through ingestion of a poisonous substance. "The findings have showed he died of asphyxia," said Nehemia Bitok Central Nairobi District Criminal Investigations Officer.

The death of the third year student led to a major protest from fellow students where his colleague was shot dead.

Abok's family held a funeral service last evening but were unwilling to comment about their position on the cause of their son's death.

The new detectives are drawn from the Nairobi Area police station when it was feared that the counterparts from Central police station where the student died could be compromised in rebuilding the last moments of the students life.

Mr Bitok said that the findings had supported preliminary verdict to the cause of death was a cable that is suspected to have been used was found dangling in the cell.

He suspects that Abok committed suicide out of frustration about the pending disciplinary action that the university would take after he was found cheating in an exam, a day before he died.

Before he was arrested, Abok is alleged to have had tried to bomb the office where his examination papers and the cheating evidence were stored.

Two petrol bombs that did not explode have been kept as exhibits in the death of the engineering student.