Coast leaders and civil society have demanded a transparent investigation into the killing of a 16-year-old student by a policeman. They accused the police of covering up the murder.
Tony Katana, a student at Harvard Secondary School in Nyali, Mombasa County was shot dead on August 12 in mysterious circumstances.
Nyali Deputy OCPD Walter Abondo claimed the boy was a gang member and was killed after attacking police officers with a panga, but witnesses dispute this theory.
Yesterday, rights activists said the investigation so far does not inspire hope and accused the Criminal Investigation Department of trying to sabotage a probe by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
“We are not sure whether a credible probe shall be conducted,” said Hussein Khalid, Executive Director of Haki Africa.
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Khalid was referring to the tussle between the CID and IPOA on the custody of police fragments recovered from Katana’s body early this week.
He said the boy’s killing was puzzling because he was “finished off” after the first bullet hit him in the waist.
“He was already writhing in pain. Police did not have to kill him,” said Khalid.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho claimed the State has introduced confusion in the investigation.
“We are yet to see a credible investigation. Police officers snuffed the boy and later seized exhibits to be used in the investigation of the suspect,” he said.
Joho accused police of using force to seize exhibits from IPOA.
“We shall not rest until we are told why this boy was killed,” he declared.
Witnesses say a police officer on patrol opened fire on a group of youth returning from a wedding in Nyali, hit Katana in the back of the waist and, as he screamed in pain, walked up to him and shot him in the face.
A postmortem extracted a bullet from the back of the waist and another from the face, but CID officers present took them from IPOA, which had started an independent investigation.
On Tuesday, Abondo defended the seizure of the bullet fragments from IPOA, saying there are procedures to follow before they are handed over to the oversight authority.
“Until these procedures are met, the exhibits will remain in the custody of the National Police Service. We are taking them to Nairobi for ballistic examination,” he said.
Abondo said the police are already investigating the murder at a “much higher level”.
Yesterday, Katana’s body was taken from the Coast Provincial General Hospital mortuary for burial in Kitui County.
Pastor Abraham Lincoln of the Deliverance Restoration Church, who led brief prayers at the mortuary, said he had received death threats for speaking against extrajudicial killings by police.
