KENYA: Had it not been for the ongoing nationwide teachers strike, Caroline Wanjiku, 15, would perhaps be alive today.

To escape boredom at home in Mukuruwe-ini, Nyeri County, the student asked her parents to let her visit her aunt in Kiandutu slum in Thika until the strike was resolved.

However, the visit ended on a tragic note after her life was taken by a bullet allegedly fired by a police officer.

Eye witnesses said one of the officers from Thika Police Station opened fire on Friday in rage after he failed to find a scrap metal dealer he was looking for, killing the 15-year-old girl on the spot.

The residents claimed the five police officers; four men and one woman, who were in a private car and in plain clothes had come to collect some money from the scrap metal dealer as they usually do every Friday.

Hell broke loose when the officers decided to arrest a woman working for the scrap metal business after failing to find the owner.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  CoG deal to benefit farmers in 34 counties
• 
  Isuzu East Africa moves to fill the void left by CMC
• 
  Counties are owed Sh5.9 billion by NHIF, governor tells Senate
• 
  DPP wants Waititu, wife jailed over Sh588m fraud

When the woman resisted arrest, the officers reportedly started to beat her up. The female officer even went ahead to undress her as they tried to bundle her into the car.

Irked by the officers' uncouth actions, angry residents tried to prevent them from arresting the woman they argued had committed no crime as she was an employee.

In the ensuing mayhem, the police overpowered the residents after shooting at them three times, with the third bullet cutting short the innocent the student's life.

On realising that they had shot dead the girl, they sped off to the police station together with the woman they arrested. They indicated that they had arrested the woman in possession of bhang.

The woman was on Saturday afternoon released from police custody after the intervention of Thika MP Alice Ng'ang'a and her Kabete counterpart Ferdinand Waititu.

COVER UP

The lawmakers said justice must prevail and called for the immediate arrest of the officer who killed Wanjiku.

"We call on the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett to take stern action against the errant police officers involved. We will not rest until to culprits are brought to book," said Ms Ng'ang'a.

The family of the deceased accused the police of planning to cover up the killing.

Wanjiku's father Joseph Warua regretted allowing his daughter to visit her aunt in the slums.

"I wish I declined her request, at least she would alive be today. All we want is for justice to prevail," said Mr Warua.

Wanjiku's aunt Penina Wambui said she suspected the police were out to cover up the crime, by bringing in new theories on the cause of death.

Thika Deputy OCPD Julius Kyumbule exonerated his officers from blame, claiming they were provoked to shoot in self-defence after they were shot at by irate residents.

 "We cannot arrest any officer until we are certain he or she committed the crime. Investigations including a forensic audit are in top gear to ascertain if the bullets used in the murder came from the rifles that our officers had," said Mr Kyumbule.