•Father of eight shot in the leg as wife watched.
•AP claims farmer wanted to cut him on the face with a panga.
Image: Courtesy
Nyandarua county commissioner Boaz Cherutich has ordered the police to investigate the shooting of a 60-year-old Nyandarua farmer by Kipipiri sub-county Administration Police commander Timothy Marete.
James Karanja Ng’ang’a was shot on Monday for allegedly denying Kenya Electricity Transmission Company workers access to his land. His wife, Hannah Wangeci, who suffers from high blood pressure, was beaten senseless by APs.
“I have asked the county police commander to hasten the investigation," Nyandarua county commissioner, Boaz Cherutich, said.
"People on the ground including KENTRACO senior officers are saying no one was shot but police fired in the air to disperse unruly crowd. Maybe he was injured when running away. Let the investigations be carried out thoroughly then we can get to know," he told the Star on Tuesday evening.
The couple spoke to the Star at Gilgil town where they had gone for treatment and
On the fateful morning they were in their shamba. Ng’ang’a was repairing a fence as Wangeci planted. Shortly after 9am KENTRACO workers arrived accompanied by administration police officers and started demolishing the fence to access the site where they were to erect a power pylon.
“I went to ask them why they were doing that yet I have not been compensated for the site and destruction that would be caused to my land. But before I could even speak I heard a gunshot and I fell down,” Ng’ang’a said
The officers tied his hands with a rope and forced him into a police vehicle at gunpoint at 9.30am. He was released at 3pm after being forced to write a letter of apology, indicating he was not shot but injured by split wood.
The father of eight said Marete dictated to him as he wrote in Kiswahili. The letter,a copy of which the Star has, reads in part,”Saa tatu na nusu engineers wa kentrako walikunja kwangu wakiwa wameandamana na maofisha wa polisi waliokuwa wameongozwa na chief Inspekta na kwa sababu hutuwa tumemalizana kifedha na engineers wa kentrako kwa hasila zangu nilikuwa na panga nikawa nimeinua juu kwa nia ya kumkata naye ofisa akatoa bunduki na kupiga risasi juu nami nikaangusha ile panga na nikaruka upande wa kushoto nikakanyanga mti na kuumia upande wa kushoto kwa hayo yote nimeomba msamaha.
(At 9:30am engineers from KENTRACO came to my land accompanied by police officers under the command of Chief Inspector. I have not been compensated by KENTRACO hence I owing to anger I raised my panga intending to cut the engineer. The police officer produced his gun and shot in the air, and I dropped the panga and jumped to the left where I stepped on a split wood and got injured. For all that I seek forgiveness).”
A neighbour who had pleaded with Marete to allow the couple be taken to hospital was also forced to sign the letter as a witness confirming it as a true statement of Ng’ang’a's.
“I could not have resisted or else they would have killed me. It is akin to a situation where you are held by armed robbers who demand that you empty your bank account. What choice do you have?" he asked.
After his release Ng’ang’a and his wife travelled to Gilgil and reported the incident to the police station. They were given a letter for Ng’ang’a to be treated at Gilgil subcounty hospital. He said he could not report to Miharati police station in Kipipiri because he feared they won’t help.
However, the couple recorded statements at Miharati police station yesterday afternoon.
Wangeci said she was attacked by the officers after she screamed after her husband was shot. She said one officer kicked her demanding to know why she was screaming .
“He placed the barrel of his gun on my neck and I collapsed. I suffer from high blood pressure."
She was unconscious until 2pm. When she came to, her husband was still tied in the police vehicle, bleeding.
Ann Wangui, a neighbour heard the distress call from Wangeci and rushed to their compound alongside other neighbours to find out what was happening. On arrival she noticed that Ng’ang’a was tied in the police vehicle. His left foot was bleeding. He had been shot.
Wangeci was unconscious and blood was oozing from her mouth. She and other women resuscitated her even as the police attempted to chase them away despite the presence of a large crowd.
“We pleaded with police to allow the couple be taken to hospital but they refused saying they were their prisoners. We begged them to untie Ng’ang’a so he could get his wife’s medication from their house but they refused," Wangui said
Chief Inspector Marete denied shooting Ng’ang’a and that his juniors assaulted his wife. He accused the couple of lying, claiming they were diabetic.
“Nothing like that. He is diabetic and his wife fell while attempting to go under the tractor," he told the Star by phone on Tuesday evening.
Marete said he did not force Ng’ang’a to write an apology at gun point, adding that the farmer did it willingly after fellow Nyumba Kumi elders pleaded with him (Marete) to forgive him.
The police boss said he shot in the air after realising that his life and that of KENTRACO workers were in danger. “He wanted to cut me in the face so he could attack the KENTRACO people. I had gone to find what was happening and to defend them," he said.
Marete claimed that the land which Ng’ang’a was denying KENTRACO workers access to does not belong to him as it is registered under his wife.