A family is accusing police of assaulting their kin and locking him up over the weekend in Subukia.
Stephen Kabuyu, 57, was allegedly beaten by a senior female police officer at Kirengero Police Station after his arrest on Thursday, following a land dispute.
Narrating the ordeal to The Standard at their home in Kahiga village, his son Gidraft Mwangi said Kabuyu pleaded with the officer for leniency, but she did not listen.
“As a family, we need justice for my father who was manhandled while at the police cells. Yes, he might have done a crime, but having a police officer injured his genitals is so inhuman,” said Mwangi.
Mwangi said they visited their father at the police station where he opened up and shared his ordeal.
The family went to the police station on Friday and pleaded to have their father taken to hospital, but were sent away.
The officer, according to Mwangi, further directed Kabuyu to surrender the title deed of their ancestral land that has been the subject of a dispute since 2013.
“Intention of the torture against my father was for him to surrender his title deed,” said the son.
According to the family, the land was to be subdivided among three siblings, a dispute that was solved by the court in April this year.
However, on Thursday, police officers visited the homestead and arrested Kabuyu for allegedly removing a beacon that had been placed along the fence.
They arrested Kabuyu, whom they dragged into a police vehicle, and drove him to Kirengero Police Station where he is still being held.
According to him, he has not been given a fair hearing by the police, who continue to harass and beat him up.
Initially, Mwangi said the family was not willing to give out the original title deed to the officers, but surrendered following the harassment.
“It is true the parcel of land was to be subdivided into three, but it is ironical to have the police harass my father and force him to hand over the title to them,” he said.
Kabuyu’s wife Mercy Wanjiru said when the family visited the station on Friday, the police allegedly said they would solve the matter if Kabuyu handed them Sh64,000.
Wanjiru claimed out of this amount, Sh44,000 was to bribe the officers who arrested him, while Sh20,000 was to be handed over to surveyors for subdivision of the land.
“We asked the police why they had not taken my husband to court, but they said they have a kangaroo court within the cells where matters are handled amicably,” said Wanjiru.
The family now wants Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to intervene.
They also want the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to investigate the matter and take action against the officer who manhandled their kin.
Subukia Police Commander Patricia Nasio admitted that the suspect was arrested on Thursday, but said police were still conducting investigations.
Nasio said the suspect could not raise police bail for his release.
“We needed to conduct more investigations on the crime, and by virtue of the suspect not raising police bail, we could not release him,” she said.
Concerning the assault, Nasio said the suspect informed her that he had been slapped by the female officer at the station, but was reluctant to share more details, maintaining that action will be taken after the release of a medical report.
The suspect was taken to Subukia hospital on Saturday for medical examination.
“I do not know if the suspect was manhandled by a female officer. We took him to hospital after he told us that he had been beaten,” said Nasio.
The officer dismissed claims of bribes, saying the suspect was requested to pay Sh10,000, money that was to be handed to surveyors.
She said his other two brothers had already paid the money.
The officer said the suspect will be taken to court today and charged with removing the beacon.
