BY JOB WERU
Police officers are once again in the spotlight for brutality after two officers allegedly attacked a middle-aged man and broke his legs.
The incident comes barely a week after a police officer in Tetu, Nyeri, allegedly executed a villager in cold blood.
In the latest incident, Benson Kinyua Kariuki, 33, whose two legs were smashed said two officers, whom he identifies by name, descended on him last month and occasioned him grievous harm. Kariuki told The Standard that he was heading to a bar at Tetu Shopping Centre when the two officers accosted him outside a shop.
“One of them held my hand and I asked what the problem was. But his colleague appeared from behind, hit me and I fell to the ground,” said Kariuki. Kariuki said the officers attacked him even after he fell to the ground, before escorting him to Tetu Police Post where they continued beating him.
“They locked me in the cells where they beat me using batons. They then released me hours later and I was able to walk home where my feet worsened,” he said.
Kariuki, who has reported the matter at Nyeri Police Station, sought treatment at the Nyeri Provincial General Hospital early this month after being bedridden for two weeks.
His neighbour, Mr Jesse Kahuro, told The Standard that Kariuki could not walk and he had to sell a calf to raise money to take him to hospital.
“He is a casual labourer and did not have money to help him seek treatment,” he said. But when contacted, one of the alleged assailants said he was not aware of the attack.
“You should understand we deal with criminals, and anybody can level any accusation against us,” the officer said. A family in Nyeri whose kin was shot dead by a police officer called for his arrest and prosecution together with a chief who abetted the crime.
Joseph Nyamu Ngunjiri said the officer and an assistant chief from Kinunga raided the deceased, Mr James Wambugu Ngunjiri’s home and arrested him, before they pulled him aside and shot him dead.
“They found him in my house and handcuffed him before taking him to his house which is about 15 metres where they shot him dead,” said Ngunjiri.
