Masinde’s torture ordeal in the hands of police

By JOE KIARIE

Nairobi, Kenya: Charles Masinde still rues the moment he dared argue with a traffic policeman.

Masinde, a 40-year-old driver plying the Nairobi-Uthiru route, says his ‘offence” triggered an episode that saw him endure a torturous night at Parklands Police Station.

In the June 2012 incident, the driver claims he was heading to town and was stuck in traffic along Waiyaki Way when the officer boarded the vehicle.

“Aliniambia leo nimekupata! Toa gari tuende (He said today I have nabbed you, start the vehicle and let’s move),” the officer barked.

Puzzled by the order, considering the traffic snarl-up that snaked beyond his view, Masinde says he tried to inculcate some logic into the cop.

“I told him that we were in traffic and the vehicle had no wings to fly over other cars,” he says.

This did not go down well with the officer, who he claims struck him on the cheek with an object he could not identify, leaving blood oozing down his face.

Furious that he had been assaulted, Masinde says he instantly decided to make a U-turn and drove to Kabete Police Station where he could report the assault. Little did he know he was playing with fire. “The officer kept making calls claiming I had kidnapped him. As I approached Waruku area, a white saloon car registration number KAW 404X approached and hit us from behind, pushing us off the road and into a ditch,” he narrates.

“Two men in plainclothes and one in police uniform jumped out, identified themselves as policemen and started raining kicks and blows on me. They pointed guns at me, saying they would kill me for kidnapping a state officer,”

Masinde says he was taken to Parklands Police Station where he claims two officers beat him nightlong before he was released early the following morning with no charges preferred against him.