Meru farmer tortured, strangled in police cell

A 48-year-old man who was found dead in a police cell was tortured and strangled while in custody.

A postmortem revealed that David Nkonge's body had burn wounds on the posterior and multiple abrasions on the head, elbow and brow.

The postmortem, conducted by Joshua Kibera, a pathologist at the Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital, also showed that the farmer had burn wounds on the right jaw and internal fractures.

Mr Nkonge was found dangling from a window grill at the Uruku Police Post in Central Imenti on November 1 with a headscarf around the neck.

Dr Kibera said the cause of Nkonge's death was "asphyxia (deprivation of oxygen) due to strangulation".

Nkonge was a father of three and one of his children is currently writing his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams.

Yesterday, angry residents marched in protest to the police post, demanding the arrest of his killer(s). Police in anti-riot gear watched as the demonstrators called for the investigation of officers who were on duty the day Nkonge died.

But area OCPD Boniface Lisiolo defended his officers, saying the suspect committed suicide while he was in custody.

Nkonge had been arrested in Uruku market the previous day allegedly for being drunk and disorderly.

"The officer in charge was doing his routine checks when he found the suspect dangling from the window grill. We are investigating why he committed suicide when the charges against him were minor," he said, adding that Nkonge was the sole occupant of the cell on the day he died.

Nkonge's niece, Lucy Kinoti, and other family members disputed the suicide theory, saying he was a happy and hard-working father who valued his family.

James Mutethia, Nkonge's younger brother, said they would bury him today. "We will bury him but we want to be told why he was strangled while he was in police custody," he said.

Nicholas Kanyatta, a resident, appealed to the Inspector General of Police to order an independent investigation to unearth the circumstances surrounding Nkonge's death.