The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) is investigating 28 police officers based in four(4) police stations in Murang'a County over allegations of execution, brutality, and dereliction of duty, some victims' families terming some of the cases as lacking commitment.

The police stations being probed are Muthithi in Kigumo Sub-County, and Kamacharia, Kamune and Kiria-ini, all in Mathioya Sub-County.

While the Muthithi police station case has heaped pressure on the Kigumo Sub County Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss, all the other 27 officers being probed are drawn from joint operation that resulted in the alleged execution and brutalization incidents.

The 28 cases are among the total 72 total cases so far in the radar of the Ipoa drawn from the county.

On September 16, 2023, the media reported on how Nicholas Maina,38, was gunned down in Gaithunu village in Mathioya Constituency on July 31, 2023.

Another report of September 13, 2023, highlighted how on June 14, 2023, police in Kigumo Sub-County received a case of lynching and participated in sanitizing it as ordinary death not in the realms of the crime of murder.

On September 20, 2023, the media was at it again, reporting on how Simon Maina from Thuita village alleged that police while on patrol, assaulted him on July 30, 2023, leaving him with fractured hand and sprained leg.

The officers further allegedly denied him a P3 form which is mandatory for treatment of assault victims in a clear scheme to cover up the incident.

The Ipoa Chairperson, Anne Makori told AVDelta News that "our team visited the stations and they are in touch with the clients”. 

“We thank the media for your human rights advocacy, be blessed," Ms Makori said.

In Maina's shooting, a heavily armed contingent of police officers drawn from Kiria-ini, Kamune, and Kamacharia police stations raided his father's compound and shot him dead at around 11am.

The Ipoa said it will be seeking to establish circumstances under which the victim died while in the lynching incident, audit whether area police executed duty as per the law.

In, the Kigumo incident Boniface Ngigi,25, was lynched by well known people at around 10am on a public road.

Some in the lynch squad took to social media and posted gory images as the victim writhed as he screamed as machetes and clubs descended on his body.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in Murang'a through its chair Mr Alex Ndegwa took issue with how the police processed the case saying autopsy that is mandatory for all police cases was bypassed.

After the death, the case was forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for investigations.

But as AVDelta News came to learn, the DCI was not convinced that it was a criminal incident that needed to be investigated.

Glaring evidence to support this position is the DCI failure to have the body subjected to an autopsy.

On June 20, 2023, the DCI committed the father to the deceased--Mr James Thuo-- to forego the postmortem and proceed to bury his son as a victim of an attack by unknown and untraceable suspects.

"I don't know what was in that document. I cannot communicate in English. I was only shown a dotted line and was directed to sign. You are now telling me that I said I had forgiven the killers of my son? It cannot be. I was told that I was agreeing to bury my son," Mr Thuo told the media.

The LSK believes the affidavit that Mr Thuo signed is illegal in a case of suspected murder.

"It was gross that the DCI could sanitize the act of murder by making the father sign an affidavit that surrendered investigations by agreeing in advance that the killers were faceless. That is silly negligence of duty," the statement reads.

 It added that "in this case, an autopsy and an inquest file were mandatory" adding that a medical expert recognised by law threshold had to state how the victim met his death. 

"That death report must be out of a postmortem. This was not sudden death. It is profiled as an express case of premeditated murder where executors first interrogated the victim, tortured him and proceeded to kill him as they filmed," the statement reads.

It adds that "the law expressly demands that all persons who commit the crime of murder must be arrested and prosecuted. They cannot be prosecuted in the absence of a postmortem form stating the cause of death".

The LSK added that "the behaviour of the DCI was an indirect way of endorsing lynch mobs as a partner in law enforcement" adding that "such a mindset is a recipe for anarchy where the society is encouraged to be taking the law in its own hands in whatever shade of excuses, key among them being security lethargy in mitigating crime".

The Ipoa now seeks to understand how the affidavit was let to apply as authority to bypass mandatory autopsy and declare suspects of murder in a public space during broad daylight as unknown and untraceable.

Kigumo Police Boss Kiprono Tanui declined knowledge of the matter, but said he is following up on the issue.

 "I am familiarising myself with the details. We will deal with any emerging issues as per procedure," he said.

However, the Muthithi police station police boss Mr Muthee Macharia said "the lynching has since eliminated stock thefts and minor crimes in the area".

In the Mr Maina's shooting, Ipoa said it seeks to establish witness statements that indicate there was ample space to apprehend him while alive or fairly immobilised.

A Mathioya Security meeting minutes that we saw dated July 17, 2023, indicated that “Maina has been profiled as a violent criminal and a drug peddler who was using a motorcycle and a white Probox vehicle to conduct his illegal business”.

The brief further indicated that “he has shown by word and deed that he has the intention of harming any officer who dares confront him for purpose of arrest”.

The resolution of the meeting was that “he should be apprehended but with due care since he was violent and should peaceful means to apprehend him fail, lethal force was also an option”, resulting to him getting shot dead.

According to the shooting incident report that was prepared by Kamacharia police station indicate that the deceased was a wanted criminal who peddled narcotics in the area.

He was also profiled as a man who had committed himself to attack and harm police officers detailed to arrest him.

Evidence that he was practicing violence against police officers was cited in a July 13 incident where he was said he hit an officer on the forehead, cracking it.

Witnesses reported that officers who shot him first shot him in the left leg as he fled and after he fell, they dragged him for about 30 metres, sprawled him on a concrete grave in a neighbour’s compound and shot him through the neck, killing him instantly.

Postmortem by Dr Kamotho Waitenga indicated that “he was shot twice—on the calf of the left leg and beneath the flesh below left jaw with the bullet exiting through the right ear having ripped off the windpipe and part of the dental”.

He attributed his death to acute bleeding, brain trauma as a result of those two bullets.

The then Mathioya Deputy County Commissioner Mr Kiplagat Tarus insisted that "the man died lawfully, was a profiled criminal and all querying the manner in which he died are supporters of crime".

He said the incident was a security operation that posted desired results.

Mathioya Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mr Muriungi Muriithi said "we are cooperating with Ipoa in the investigations and we have compiled the exhibits they require".

He said "we are working well with Ipoa and we will abide by recommendations that will come out of its findings".