Embu brothers jumped out of moving vehicle, police say

Police in Embu have claimed that two brothers who died in their custody jumped from a moving vehicle while under arrest, without the officers who had arrested them noticing.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) on Thursday announced that it had launched investigations into how Benson Njiru, 22, and his 19-year-old brother Emmanuel Mutura met their deaths.

Njiru, who was a student at Kabarak University, and Mutura were last seen on Sunday at 10pm in Kianjokoma village in Embu, where it is said they were arrested for being outside during the curfew. Their bodies were found at the Embu General Hospital mortuary on Tuesday.

Their deaths caused massive riots in Kianjokoma village for the better part of Wednesday. A police vehicle was torched during running battles between officers from Manyatta Police Post and angry residents of the village where the two men hailed from.

On the spot are five officers, who it has been established arrested the two men. They claimed that the two jumped from a moving police vehicle without them noticing, and died on the spot, as they were being driven to the police station.

The family disagrees, saying the bodies of the two brothers were found more than 30 kilometres from their home, and nowhere near the Manyatta Police Post where it is said they were taken on being arrested.

On Wednesday, the residents of Kianjokoma lit tyres at the market, and engaged in running battles with the police for the better part of the day. And although calm has returned to the village, tensions are still high.

“Ipoa has this morning deployed investigators from its Nairobi headquarters to beef up their Meru Rapid Investigations counterparts who launched their investigations yesterday. This is intended to fast-track the investigations,” said Ms Anne Makori, the chairperson of Ipoa.

“Upon conclusion of the investigations and pursuant to Section 6(a) of the Ipoa Act, the authority will make recommendations, including prosecution, if criminal culpability is established on the part of the police officers involved,” said Ms Makori.

The Nation team has seen a police report from the night when the two men were arrested. It states that they jumped out of a police vehicle without the officers who were guarding them noticing.

Although the report does not show the exact time they were arrested, it says that they were discovered missing from among those who were under arrest at about 2am on Monday.

The police vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was being driven by police constable James Mwaniki. It had five police officers, and 10 people who had been arrested.

Two officers were in the front cabin with the driver, while two others — a Police Constable Sang and Police Constable Cherono — were guarding those under arrest. The vehicle was heading to Karau Police Post to pick one more person who had been arrested, before heading to Manyatta Police Post.

“It happened that two unknown prisoners, names unknown, of about 25 years of age, opened the police vehicle left side and jumped out without being noticed, 35 metres apart, both dying on the spot,” says the police report seen by the Nation.

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