Junior Malindi prison officer assaulted by senior officers

Prison officer constable Peter Ndirangu of the Malindi GK prison recuperating at the Malindi Sub County Hospital male ward in Kilifi County on November 3, 2018. [Nehemiah Okwembah/Standard]

A prison warder is nursing serious injuries after he was allegedly assaulted by his seniors at the correctional facility.

The incident at the Malindi GK Prison on Friday evening left Constable Peter Ndirangu with severe physical injuries and was taken to the Malindi sub-county hospital.

It is alleged that Mr Ndirangu differed with two of his seniors, whose ranks were given as superintendent of prisons, before one officer hit him on the head with a pistol butt.

As the scuffle continued, one officer ran over his legs and back with a police vehicle as he lay on the ground.

When journalists visited him in hospital, Ndirangu could neither sit nor visit the washrooms. Despite being assisted by his wife, Mercy Ndirangu, the warder said he was in great pain.

He narrated how one of the officers had previously threatened to kill him. “He had told me that he will slash my body into pieces, put the remains in a sack and then surrender to the police,” he said.

Ndirangu said the two senior officers had summoned him to the prison officers’ mess but he ignored the order.

“I refused to go to where they were drinking and that is when one of them chased after me and hit my head with the butt of a pistol leaving me with a bleeding head. I rushed to report the matter to the office but little did I know that they had already called the police,” said Ndirangu.

Specialised treatment

The warder said one officer pushed him down behind the police Land Cruiser which ran over him, leaving him for dead. All this happened as his wife watched.

Mrs Ndirangu, who said she thought her husband had died, raised the alarm after the officers had fled in the vehicle.

She pleaded with the authorities to transfer her husband to another hospital to get specialised treatment.

Coast Regional Prison Commandant James Ngaira said Ndirangu was injured after differing with the seniors.

“I’m aware there is an officer who was assaulted and police have launched investigations. Action will be taken against those involved,” said Mr Ngaira on the phone yesterday.

Malindi OCPD Matawa Muchangi said he was still gathering information about the matter and promised to brief the media once he got proper details.