Parent sues IPOA for listing shot minor as dead

Police officers keep vigil during Saba Saba protests in Kitengela, on July 7, 2025. [File, Standard]

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) listed a five-year-old child shot while playing as among killed protesters.

In an intriguing but shocking case where the minor’s father has sued over failure to hunt down the police officer who shot the infant while she was at home, IPOA is accused of submitting the name of the Grade Two girl to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga as among those whom police had killed during Gen Z’s protests.

Michael Odongo stated in his court case that he was watching the DPP on television when he saw his daughter’s name among those who had been killed.

Nevertheless, Odongo said that the minor is still alive and a survivor of police brutality. “Therefore, according to the third respondent, the minor is deceased, yet no police officer has been charged for the said offence, which is a total abandonment of statutory mandate. The third respondent’s actions, in addition to abdicating his responsibilities, are false and misleading and have occasioned mental pain and anguish to the said minor,” argued Obonyo.

According to court records, on June 25, 2024, Obonyo’s five-year-old daughter was dropped off at school as was the norm.

This day, however, is engraved into her father’s mind as when she was playing, protests over the controversial Finance Bill 2024 erupted throughout the country.

In his case before the High Court, against the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Attorney General Dorcas Oduor, National Police Service Commission, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Director of Public Prosecutions and Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission, he explained that all was well for his daughter until around 6 pm when a bullet struck her on the stomach while playing.

Obonyo’s grievance, now before the court, was that a trigger-happy police officer aimed and fired a bullet towards his home, where the minor was playing.

 He said that although the day was marred by protests by Gen Zs, he and the minor’s mother were at work.

Nevertheless, as the day progressed, protests intensified and became chaotic. “Police officers were seen and heard in broad daylight, firing gunshots severally, which posed a risk of causing grievous harm to innocent citizens,” he narrated, adding that when the bullet, which they initially thought was an object, hit her, the force had her fall from a bicycle she was riding on.

He stated that he did not suspect anything serious, but the girl was in pain.

Obonyo said that a thorough look at the girl revealed that she had an abnormal hole, which was continuously bleeding but not profusely.

A scan revealed that the girl had a bullet lodged between the appendix and the large intestine.

“The petitioner was admitted for three days and later discharged. There after the petitioner made several hospital visits for treatment appointments of monitoring and post-surgery care,” he said.