Court jails police officers for killing Kwale teenager

MOMBASA, KENYA: Mombasa High Court on Monday sentenced two police officers to seven years in prison after being found guilty of killing Kwale teenager Kwekwe Mwandaza in August 2014.

Kwekwe was felled by bullets when eight policemen stormed her family's home in Kinango, Kwale County.
Police have been clinging to the theory that Kwekwe was killed when she attacked the policemen with a panga (machete). Officials appeared to suggest the officers killed her in self-defence, allegedly because she was obstructing them from arresting her uncle George Zani who they allege is a murder suspect.

But Kwekwe's two cousins, who claimed they were in the house when the incident occurred, contradicted the police version of events, reporting that the officers burst into their house at night after breaking their door.

Mgandi George, 8, and Luvuno George, 7, said the police then lobbed teargas into the house and as the family choked in the fumes opened fire. Kwekwe, a class six pupil, died on the spot. Mgandi claimed Kwekwe was shot in bed apparently as she slept.

"In the house, we were three; Kwekwe Mwandaza, me and Luvuno and the police just hit and opened the door and shot Mwandaza at close range," he said while crying. And his sister Luvuno also alleged Kwekwe attacked no one.