Witness says man shot dead by police had hands up

A police officer is on trial in the fatal shooting of a man in Mukurweini, Nyeri County. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Kanyi told court that he recorded a statement at Mukurweini police station but police officers forced him to sign without allowing him to read what they had written.

A man fatally shot by a police officer in Mukurweini had raised his hands to surrender, his younger brother told a Nyeri High Court.

Patrick Kanyi told Justice Abigail Mshilla that his brother, Gregory King'ori, was shot by the police officer in the chest in front of his wife and children at midnight.

He was testifying during the murder trial of Officer Chibungu Sanga, 34, who is accused of killing Mr King'ori on the night of March 2015.

Mr Kanyi, an eyewitness, said the officer was accompanied by two other officers during the incident.

He said the officers were drunk.

Mr Kanyi further told the court that he later recorded a statement at the Mukurweini police station but police forced him to sign without allowing him to read what they had written.

POLICE STATEMENT

“I was told that I must sign. I was not allowed to read what they had written,” he said as he disowned sections of the police statement during the case hearing.

He dismissed reports that Mr King'ori was shot because he was armed with a panga and had resisted arrest.

The witness also denied that Mr King'ori had attempted to jump through the window.

He said Mr King'ori was awakened by his wife after the officers arrived at the homestead.

Another witness, John Wachira, a cousin and neighbour of Mr King'ori, said he heard gunshots at midnight and later heard people running towards his coffee farm.

FATAL SHOOTING

“I heard movements just behind my house and I later realised they were police. They stopped and I heard one saying, 'Do not worry I have shot him'.

"Another officer arrived and asked for a gun, but his colleague declined. Shortly later I heard another gunshot,” Mr Wachira told the court.

"My house is wooden and therefore I could hear everything in the conversation," he noted.

He said the next morning Mr King'ori's body was found in the coffee plantation with gun wounds.

The witness described Mr King'ori as a peaceful man.

He denied knowing about a brawl between Mr King'ori and the police officer at a pub in Mukurweini town days before the incident.

The case was adjourned until June 28.