Policeman killed a year after wife was murdered

Anti-riot police officers stand guard at the barricaded Londiani-Muhoroni road near Jambo Kenya area yesterday. [Nikko Tanui, Standard]

The mystery surrounding the death of a woman last year took a grim turn yesterday after her husband was also killed under unclear circumstances.

Irene Too was shot dead by police officers attached to Kipkelion Police station on July 16.

She was pregnant and her death is yet to be resolved.

Yesterday at around 3am, residents of Kaplaba village in Kipkelion East constituency woke up to the sight of Justus Too's lifeless body lying by the roadside near the shopping centre.

Justus was an Administration Police officer attached to Kotulo Police Station in Wajir County.

Angry residents barricaded the Londiani-Muhoroni road at Jambo Kenya as they demanded answers to the couple's deaths.

A contingent of anti-riot police was dispatched to the area where they shot in the air to disperse the demonstrators.

At the time of his death, Justus was off-duty and was spending time at his homestead in Kaplaba.

Kericho Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officer Stephen Magwe said that when his colleagues arrived at the scene, they first thought Justus had been involved in a road accident.

But after further investigations, their conclusion changed.

"The officers determined that it was not a road accident but a murder," said Mr Magwe.

"The deceased's body had multiple stab wounds on the neck. He had also been assaulted with a blunt object."

Magwe said that the body had been dragged for about 40 meters to the roadside. 

"This means that the deceased had been killed elsewhere and dragged to make it look like it was a road accident," he said.

Crime scene

At the crime scene, Magwe said a smartphone was recovered. However, after analysis, it was found not to belong to Justus.

On the day Irene was killed last year, Justus had arrived from his work station in Wajir.

For some reason, he proceeded to the nearby Jambo Kenya trading centre where he discharged two bullets from his pistol.

Alarmed, officers from Kipkelion Police Station tracked him to his house which they sprayed with bullets, killing Irene instantly.

"About that incident, we opened an inquiry and came up with a file which we forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) with a recommendation that anyone who was culpable be arraigned," said Magwe.

He explained that the file took long to be returned from the DPP's office, and when it was finally returned, the investigators did not agree with the DPP's recommendations.

The file has since been returned to the DPP's office.

Back at Justus' home, his mother, Hellen Rono, a widow, was inconsolable over the tragedy.

Ms Rono revealed that before her son's death, he had expressed fears for his life. 

"It had reached a point where Justus would lock his house with a padlock from outside and use the window when he wants to get out," Rono said.

She linked her son's death to his efforts to get justice for his slain wife.

"I believe it is the same people who killed my daughter-in-law who came back to silence Justus forever," said Rono.

Justus had remarried following Irene's murder. His wife, Vicky Chepkurui, who is three-months pregnant, mourned her husband.

"His unborn child has suffered injustice. The baby will now grow up without his father. I don't know what to do," Ms Chepkurui said. 

She called on police boss Hillary Mutyambai to conduct thorough investigations.