Man’s anguish as he sits hopelessly at home with bullet lodged in body

He is yet to be paid his dues after doing some masonry work at an Administration Police post in Kiambu, but Alexander Kinuthia may as well kiss that kind of work goodbye.

A police shooting near the AP post where he worked has left him maimed. Although he may heal in years to come and be able to do some work, it certainly would not be at a construction site.

Kinuthia, four cousins and a woman friend had just left a bar at 11pm in accordance with the new drinking hours when they were shot at as they drove home.

One of the cousins died on the spot while the others were injured. But it is Kinuthia’s injury that has left him and his family shell-shocked — a bullet will remain in his body for the rest of his life.

Investigations by the Saturday Nation show Kinuthia and two of his cousins were having a drink at a bar in Ruaka township. They were then joined by a third cousin who owns a car.

This was on January 14, this year, at around 10.20pm.

“I joined them at Oasis Pub but I only took one drink because it was approaching 11pm. We had to be out of the bar by 11pm to beat the Mututho law,” says Solomon Karomo, the car owner.

Soon they were on the road home. Just within Ruaka, they came across Stephen Gichuhi, another cousin, and his fiancee on the road. They gave them a lift.

“Both squeezed at the back of the car,” says Karomo.

On approaching the Ruaka AP post, they met with police officers in a Land Cruiser. The officers were following a white car that seemed to have been in an accident.

What followed after they passed the two cars has left the cousins traumatised.

"The police started to shoot at our car from behind. I screeched to a halt as a hail of bullets rained on us,” says Karomo.

The police surrounded the car and ordered them to get out and lie down.

“We pleaded with them, saying we were not gangsters but they would not listen,” chips in Kinuthia.

The situation was saved by AP officers from the nearby post who came to the scene and told the police that they knew the men on the ground.

“We quickly said we knew them and that Kinuthia was in fact a mason working on a building at our post. That’s how the police calmed down,” says an AP officer who prefers not to be quoted discussing fellow officers.

At this time, Gichuhi, who had been hit by one of the bullets, fell across Kinuthia’s lap and died.

“One officer was shouting at me to get out of the car. I just dropped him (Gichuhi) and he fell to the floor of the car, his head hanging outside,” narrates Kinuthia.

After being treated at Kenyatta National Hospital for a fortnight, Kinuthia is back home, unable to carry out basic chores for himself.

Hospital records show he suffered from a severe injury in the chest. “There was reduced air entry on the right chest and the bullet is lodged at the mediastimal pneumothorax,” says a report by Dr Fasim Mohan.

The bullet has to remain where it is as trying to remove it would interfere with the backbone.

A few days ago, Kinuthia, 49, a father of three, spoke to Saturday Nation at his rural home.

“It is strange how the shooting happened. I am lucky to be alive,” said a distraught Kinuthia.

The Administration and regular police differ on the circumstances of the shooting.

Area assistant chief Stephen Mbugua describes the shooting as “careless”.

“We know these villagers. They were not armed. I suspect there was an attempt to implicate them in some cover up,” he said.

The chief collaborates the story that the car being escorted by the police vehicle was reversed to face the same direction as the victims’ car.

“Why were the police changing the position of the car?” wonders Gichuhi’s father Stephen Njoroge. “I was almost roughed up when I questioned why they were interfering with the scene of crime, “ he said.

According to the father, Gichuhi’s girlfriend had come from Dubai, where she lives, and they were making arrangements for him to join her there.

But the police had a different story. They say there was an exchange of fire at the scene of the incident.

“A life was lost and we are investigating. We cannot speculate on what exactly happened,” says Gigiri police boss Joseph Ng’ang’a.

Mr Ng’ang’a could not, however, shed any light on why the car’s position had been changed.

Did someone want it to appear as if the victims’ car and the one the police were escorting were headed in the same direction? is one of the questions that the victims are persistently asking.

Investigations further show the vehicle in question was new and its occupant claimed he had been carjacked and drugged before police rescued him.

The police boss said the victims had been questioned and police were following more leads.

“We have interrogated the people involved. That is as much as we can say for now,” said Mr Ng’ang’a when reached. None of those interrogated is in police custody.

Though Kinuthia has a chance of healing, he is incapacitated and wonders how he will educate and feed his three children.