Woman’s narrow escape after police encounter

By JOE KIARIE

Christine Rita, 23, counts herself lucky to be alive. The Dedan Kimathi University of Technology student still finds it hard to explain how she only escaped with a bullet to her hip after police officers sprayed the car she was travelling in with bullets.

Even more damning is the manner in which the case was casually dismissed after it emerged that Rita and her friends had merely been setup. No one has been held responsible for the shooting to date.

Rita explains that she was travelling along the Nyeri-Nanyuki route in the company of her sister and the boyfriend identified only as Scotfield on November 29th last year, when a white Toyota Noah overtook them.

She recalls that the car suddenly slowed down before all hell broke loose. “After about 30 seconds, the occupants drew pistols and started shooting at our vehicle.  They shot at us twice,” she says.

Scotfield accelerated and overtook the vehicle as the shooting intensified. “They kept shooting and I felt something had hit my right hip. They shot at us more than 20 times after we passed them,” she says.

Fearing that the attackers were carjackers, Scotfield sped off but unfortunately lost control of the car and they crashed moments later.

“We dashed to a nearby house where children opened the door for us and we hid under the bed as the shooting continued,” she recounts.

Now bleeding profusely from the bullet wound, Rita says she decided to seek assistance and walked back to the car where she found three men holding guns. Her sister joined her shortly after.

“The men identified themselves as police officers and said the car had been reported stolen and the occupants were armed gangsters,” she says.

They were taken to Kiganjo Police Station where Scotfield later presented himself and was arrested. Rita was admitted to Nyeri Provincial General Hospital where she was operated on her right hip and the bullet removed.

The lady who had reported the car missing in Kisumu came to the police station the next morning and it turned out that she knew Scotfield. The vehicle in question belonged to Scotfield’s mother.

“The OCS asked a policewoman to help us reach an agreement that would see the lady cater for the medical bill and the matter dismissed. But she declined to take responsibility. With no agreement, we spent a night in the cells,” she says. “When the OCPD came in the following day, we were released with no charges preferred against us. The car was also released.”

The main question is why the police did not arrest the lady who made a false report, putting the lives of the trio in grave danger.

Reached for comment, Nyeri District Criminal Investigating Officer James Oludhe, who is aware of the matter, referred us to the County Police Commander, saying the file had been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Central region police boss Larry Kieng could not explain why the lady was set free.

He, however, told The Standard on Saturday that an investigation into the case is ongoing and he would only release more information once he received the updated file.