Family of Mpeketoni woman hurt in 'police attack' wants justice

MOMBASA: The family of a young woman lying in a coma at a Mombasa hospital after allegedly being hit by a police officer is now calling for justice.

Miriam Njeri, the mother of 22-year-old Margaret Njeri, wants the matter probed and the officer charged for assaulting her daughter who is now admitted at Pandya Memorial Hospital.

Ms Njeri said the victim is a secretary at the George Wakahiu law firm in Mpeketoni and was allegedly hit using the butt of a gun by a police officer at Kanyanyaini in Mpeketoni on Thursday last week.

She told The Standard Wednesday that on the fateful day, her daughter called to inform her she was going to a salon and would arrive home late.

Ms Njeri said a few minutes past 6pm she called her daughter since she had not shown up, only for her cellphone to be answered by a man who claimed to be a police officer.

"The (alleged) officer told me my daughter had been injured and he had taken her to Mpeketoni Sub-District Hospital for treatment," she recalled.

STRUCK VICTIM

She said witness reports indicated a police officer struck her daughter accidentally as he aimed to hit a motorcycle rider who was carrying her and was violating curfew hours, earning the officer's wrath.

Due to the dusk-to-dawn curfew in parts of Lamu, she said the 'officer' said he would pick her at the house so she could see her daughter at the hospital.

She said the family had been given an ambulance that rushed her daughter to Coast General Hospital in Mombasa and later to Pandya.

Ms Njeri said her daughter had been in a coma since Thursday and at Pandya's intensive care unit from Saturday.

"Since Thursday my daughter has been in a coma," she said, adding doctors had said she sustained a scalp fracture that had partially extended to brain.

Lamu West District Criminal Investigation Officer Steven Birgen said police were yet to establish her assailant and that the bike rider had escaped.

"We have received the report and dispatched officers to visit the girl at the hospital in Mombasa so the family can record her statement," he said.

Lawyer George Wakahiu asked police to speed up investigations.