• Family accuses AP officers of killing David Wachira, but authorities say he was a rustler.
• Alleged victim of theft denies his sheep were stolen, says they wandered off and he never filed a compalint.
Image: Courtesy
Police in Kipipiri are investigating the death of a 34-year-old man at Malewa AP camp on Sunday.
Family members accuse the police of killing David Wachira.
He was arrested by AP officers while walking home to Calabash village at 1am on Sunday.
They accused a drunk Wachira of stealing six sheep from villager Joseph Muigai, 74.
Nyandarua county commissioner Boaz Cherutich on Tuesday morning told the Star on the phone that police are under instruction to carry out a thorough investigation to ascertain the cause of death.
He said police had assured him that a postmortem set for Wednesday will be carried out in the presence of relatives.
“An inquiry file has been opened. Anybody with information should record [it] with the police so we get to the bottom of the matter," Cherutich said
Wachira’s sister, Keziah Wambui, said they learnt of his arrest at 1pm on Sunday. An officer from the camp went to her workplace and informed her they had detained him for "various reasons".
“I asked him if they found my brother with any stolen property and he said no," she said.
Wambui said she went to the camp and found her brother chained to the guard rail outside the main building. He was in terrible condition.
Wachira was then moved and laid face up under a tractor but was left in the chains.
Wambui went back to her business but returned to the camp a short time later and found Wachira had been moved to the cells.
At that moment, a vehicle from Miharati police station arrived. “I felt something was not right after the police started talking in whispers. I sneaked behind the cells and I peeped through the window where I noticed my brother already dead with his mouth open. I screamed and collapsed," she said
Wachira’s niece, Veronica Wangari, was going to register for Huduma Namba at Malewa chief’s camp on Sunday afternoon when she found her uncle under a tractor and in chains.
“I asked him if I could bring him some tea but he said no. I asked him if he wanted anything, he just told me goodbye," she said
Mzee Muigai denied that Wachira stole his sheep, saying they had strayed. Muigai said he travelled on Saturday and when he returned home at 9pm, he let in the sheep he found in the compound without checking whether they were all there.
At 1am, he was woken by officers from Malewa AP camp asking him to check if the six sheep at the gate belonged to him. “I opened the gate and they strolled in and I locked them in with the rest," Muigai said
In the morning he went to the camp, where the officers told him that Wachira had stolen his sheep. Muigai denied Wachira had stolen from him and told them he had not filed a complaint against him as his sheep were all safe at home.
He went to church and later took his sheep to pasture, only to learn that Wachira had died.
Muigai told the Star that Wachira was extremely drunk.
He said the APs visited his home at 9pm on Sunday demanding the six sheep, which he allowed them to take to Miharati police station as exhibit.
“The government should ensure justice for this young man as I had no complaint against him. He was too drunk to steal six sheep," Muigai said
Wachira’s brother, Joseph Ng’ang’a, said his brother was a victim of circumstances as he happened to be going home at the same time as the sheep were also strolling home.
He believes the officers suspected him of theft because he was walking behind the animals.
Ng’ang’a urged the government to ensure justice for the sixth-born in the family of nine. He said the authorities were accusing Wachira of theft to cover up his murder.
But Kipipiri deputy county commissioner Mutuku Mwenga said Wachira stole the six sheep. He accused Muigai of toying with the authorities.
“According to police reports, the sheep had been stolen. Awache kutuchezea (He should stop playing around with us), there is a record," he told the Star on the phone on Tuesday morning
Kipipiri subcounty police commander Mwaniki Ireri cautioned against concluding that Wachira was killed. He said Wachira was a suspected rustler who stole the sheep which led to his arrest and detention.
“He did not have any physical injuries when we visited the scene. But we are not ruling out foul play. We shall carry out a postmortem to ascertain the cause of his death," Mwaniki said
Ireri said the postmortem to be carried out on Wednesday will prove or disprove the family's claim that Wachira was tortured.
Wachira’s death comes three weeks after Kipipiri subcounty AP commander Timothy Marete shot farmer James Ng’ang’a, 60.
The farmer was shot in the foot for blocking Kentraco workers from erecting a power pylon on his land following a compensation dispute.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya