Tobiko orders charging of Corporal Chibungu Sanga

Police officers tracked down a man to his home and shot him dead because he had fought with one of them in a bar two months earlier, investigations have revealed.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko on Friday ordered that Corporal Chibungu Sanga be charged with murder following a recommendation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

Investigations by Ipoa revealed that the officers raided the home of Mr Gregory King’ori Kanyi in the middle of the night and broke the door, before shooting him on May 7 in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri County.

“Upon perusal of the Ipoa investigations report, the DPP concurred with the findings and directed that Corporal Sanga be charged with the murder. The other four officers involved in the incident will undergo disciplinary action for failing to record the arrest attempt mission in the Occurrence Book, prior to leaving the station, as required,” Ipoa Public Relations Officer Gladys Some said on Friday.

CORPORAL WAS TRANSFERRED

The officers were attached to the Mukurwe-ini Police Station, but the corporal was transferred days after the incident.

Mr Kanyi's death was widely publicised after angry residents picked up the body from a mortuary and dumped it at the station, triggering running battles with the police that lasted for hours.

Ipoa established that the bar brawl took place on February 22, and, barely three months later, the officer involved led his colleagues to Mr Kanyi’s home.

Ipoa linked the two incidents after speaking to witnesses and carrying out other investigations.

“The Authority’s investigations revealed that on February 22, the late Kanyi was involved in a physical fight with a police officer at a bar in Mukurwei-ni Town. On May 7, a group of five officers went to Kanyi’s home to arrest him at midnight," Ipoa report reads in part.

BROKE THE DOOR

"During the mission, one of the officers was armed. At the home, the officers broke down the door into Kanyi’s house and as he ran out he was shot at by the police. After the shooting, Kanyi continued running and was found lying dead at daylight in a nearby coffee plantation with a single gunshot wound to the chest.”

The bullet went through and split a wooden wall of his bedroom, narrowly missing his two young children who were sleeping, the investigation also established.

Mr Tobiko directed Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet “to take immediate steps to arraign the officer in court”.

KILLING OF CIVILIANS
This is the fifth officer to be indicted by Ipoa in less than a month over unlawful killings of civilians.

Other officers facing murder charges are constables Kahindi Changawa and Stanley Okoti for the alleged fatal shooting of Joseph Obongo Onchuru, who was an Administration Police constable attached to Bomachoge Borabu MP Joel Onyancha.

He was killed together with his relatives Geoffrey Nyabuto Mogoi and Amos Okenye Makori on October 7, 2014, on claims that they were gangsters.

Chief Inspector Patrick Wafula Manyasi, who was a station commander in Maralal, is also facing charges of murdering Mr Tom Rono Lokishorumongi, a student at Laikipia University's Maralal campus.

SHOT IN THE FOREHEAD

The student was shot in the forehead during demonstrations involving students from the campus in Maralal Town on October 30, 2013.

Also facing prosecution are Senior Sergeant Julius Taporu Dikir, an askari of the Narok County government, over the killing of Mr Sikona ole Muntet on January 26.

He was shot during demonstrations against Narok Governor Samuel ole Tunai.

The indictment of the askari shows that Ipoa has powers to investigate security officers who are not employed by the National Police Service but engage in policing duties.