Fidel Castro Ochieng’, 19, at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu on July 21, 2023. He had nine bullets lodged in his body.
| Ondari Ogega | Nation Media GroupKisumu
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Police brutality: Kisumu student shot 9 times discharged as death toll keeps rising
A 19-year-old student who was shot nine times during anti-government protests earlier this month has been discharged from hospital.
Fidel Castro Ochieng, a Form Four student at Olembo Secondary School in Kisumu County, left the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital on Friday, July 28, 2023, afternoon.
He is the poster child of the police brutality witnessed in the government’s response towards protests led by the opposition Azimio coalition.
While he is lucky to live to tell the story, at least 16 people in his home county are dead, and their bodies are lying in various morgues across the devolved unit.
The Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) nursing director, Ms Teresa Okiri, said 11 bodies are currently being preserved at the facility’s morgue.
Other bodies are at the Kisumu County Hospital and at a health facility in Chiga.
“Some of the individuals were brought here while already dead, while others died while receiving treatment,” said Ms Okiri, adding that the hospital had initially preserved 14 bodies but three have already been released for burial.
MPs Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town – right) and Fatuma Mohammed (Migori) visit a police brutality victim at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu on July 28,2023. Fidel Castro Ochieng, a student who had been admitted after being shot nine times, was discharged from the hospital on the same day.
Ms Okiri said that more than 30 victims of police brutality were rushed to the regional health facility for treatment amid the chaos.
A majority of the casualties, she said, had been shot.
“Ten deaths were due to gunshot wounds while four had blunt injuries in different body parts,” said Ms Okiri.
She said that a number of the injured individuals had been discharged while 16 others are still under treatment in various wards.
At the hospital’s intensive care unit, William Amulele is lying unconscious, fighting for his life after he was brutally beaten by uniformed police officers.
According to witnesses, police officers broke into their house in Nyalenda and attacked him alongside his brother, Brian Oniang’o, using batons. They left them for dead.
The two were rushed to JOOTRH and admitted to the ICU, sadly, Brian succumbed to the injuries on Thursday.
Also still recuperating at the facility is 19-year-old Raphael Onyango Geng’o who has a bullet lodged in his hip.
The first-year student at the Siaya Institute of Technology says he was attacked after he found himself in the middle of running battles in Kondele, Kisumu. He says he was shot as he fled the scene.
“I fell and fractured the injured leg,” said Raphael, adding that medics had advised that removing the bullet would cause further damage.
“I have been advised to wait until my fractured leg heals so the doctors can advise on what next,” said Raphael.
However, for Fidel, the student who was shot nine times, things are now looking up. He had eight bullets lodged in his chest and another in his arm, as explained by the medics on July 21.
He had claimed that the police had attacked him with a group of friends while they were playing cards in Nyamasaria.
As he was wheeled to the theatre, Fidel kept pleading to everyone who passed next to his bed for assistance.
A medic points to an X-ray scan showing some of the nine bullets lodged inside the body of 19-year-old Fidel Castro Ochieng’ (inset) who is admitted at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu on July 21, 2023.
On Friday, however, one week after successful surgery and having his hospital fees waived, Fidel was among the patients who were discharged from the facility in stable condition.
Fidel could afford to smile and speak calmly with his family and friends. The excruciating pain had subsided and he was hoping to join his classmates soon.
“I am alive today, all thanks to God. When I was brought to this facility, I never thought I would make it alive. A friend of mine, whom I was with, succumbed to bullet injuries a few hours before my surgery,” said Fidel.
“The pain kept subsiding after the surgery. The health workers have also been around attending to my needs giving me painkillers and other medicines,” he said on his bed at the JOOTRH male ward.
On Friday, a number of Nyanza leaders held prayers for victims of police high-handedness. Among them were Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo, Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma and Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo.
The MPs visited the injured victims in the wards while assuring their families and friends that they would see to it that justice is served.
According to Dr Amollo, most of the injured victims had suffered gunshot wounds while others had broken legs, hands and skulls caused by blunt objects.
“We as members of parliament from this region chose to hold our prayers in this hospital’s grounds, which we commenced by visiting those who were injured. We were also able to raise some funds to help the affected families,” said Dr Amollo.
“From their statements, which we have recorded and will be swearing affidavit, we have confirmed that the injuries had all been caused by police,” he added.
Dr Amollo said that the victims who had bullet wounds were either shot on the head, or abdomen, especially on the left side and pelvic area.
X-ray scan showing some of the bullets lodged in the arm of 19-year-old Fidel Castro Ochieng’ on July 21, 2023.
He claimed that the wounded areas are a clear indicator that the police officers did not aim to disable but were after the lives of innocent citizens.
Mr Kaluma, on his part, said that they are in the process of filing a constitutional petition on behalf of the victims of police brutality against Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome.
He also revealed that they are planning to file a case in the International Criminal Court concerning the killings.
The MP said that they will also be filing other petitions to the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.
“We will also lodge a petition with the African Union to investigate police brutality and another at the East African Court of Justice, we have lawyers across the nation who are currently doing the paperwork,” said Mr Kaluma.
Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo maintained that the constitution guarantees the citizens the freedom to picket and demonstrate.
However, the government still holds that the containment measures were above board.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, while discounting claims of extra-judicial killings and use of excessive use of force on unarmed protestors recently said that in the course of protests, “a large cache of conventional and crude weapons, narcotic drugs and cash were intercepted on their way to fuel the riots that rocked some parts of the country”.
The government says that due to the protests, 305 law enforcement officers were seriously injured while one died.
It also notes that more than 850 shops and other business premises were also broken into and looted while 199 buildings were destroyed and various utilities worth billions of shillings were vandalised.
Independent Policing Oversight Authority Commissioner John Waiganjo, in a television interview, warned the police that it was too early yet to celebrate.
“Some politicians congratulated the police for a ‘job well done’. I tell the police: don’t celebrate yet. You might be found culpable personally,” Mr Waiganjo said.
According to the Independent Medico-Legal Unit at least 37 people in Kenya died due to gunshots.
Additional reporting by Ruth Mbula
