A Mathare family is pleading with Pangani police station to give them a burial permit for their son, David Maina Karuki, whom they claimed was killed by cops.
They said police have refused to give them the document to bury their son.
Peter Muriuki, the youth's father, said the police have dismissed them and quoted them as saying, "Such a permit is not given to a person who is shot."
A postmortem witnessed by the family showed he suffered two gunshot wounds to the head, two to the stomach.
The family also wants police to authorise them to raise money in the neighbourhood for the burial.
They claim multiple visits to the station to secure the crucial documents have been fruitless as officers dismiss them. They quote officers as saying,"They can only be issued by the OCS who is not here at the moment."
The family alleges Maina, a boda boda operator and father of one, was picked by about 10 police officers at Mathare 2 on Thursday last week at 8.30pm.
Muriuki, said his son was arrested in the presence of his brothers and friends. He was dragged from atop his motorbike and his friends followed.
“There were many Probox vehicles at Juja Road where he was taken and no one knew what was going on," Muriuki said.
“After around three and half hours, we heard the sounds of gunshots," he said.
He said passersby told them the officers loaded the body into a police truck and drove off.
The next morning, his mother went to see the OB number and police records. She wanted to know what offence Maina was booked on.
There was no OB number and his name was not entered into the station records, the family said. They went to City Mortuary.
"We found the body at the mortuary and it had two gunshot wounds to the stomach and another two in the head," Muriuki said on Monday.
But Pangani OCPD Julius Kiragu told the Star on Tuesday that the family had approached his office for the request and told them to make it formal in writing, specifying their schedule of meetings and how they will keep the Covid-19 protocols but never returned.
"The sister was here but she did not come back when i told her to do the request in writing and explain how they will keep the protocols. She never came back as a greed.
"How can we refuse them the burial permits and documents to facilitate that? They just love drama.
The police boss, however, did not confirm or deny that it was the police that executed the man.
(Edited by V. Graham)
