Githurai residents demand release of officer

Transport along Thika Road was paralysed for the better part of Tuesday as Githurai residents held protests demanding the release of a police officer accused of murder.

Police had to lob tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd, which pelted vehicles with stones and burned tyres during the demo. They also used water canons in the operation.

The protesters demanded the immediate release of Constable Titus Musila, popularly known in Githurai as Katitu, saying he had helped to reduce crime in Githurai 45, Zimmerman and Githurai Kimbo.

SHOT SIX TIMES

The policeman was on Friday last week charged with murder in the shooting death of a man in 2013.

He is also being investigated by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) over the killing of a key suspect in the case.

Mr Oscar Muchoki Mwangi was shot six times on August 24, three days after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Keriako Tobiko, ordered the arrest and prosecution of the officer, who was attached to Kasarani Police Station in Nairobi.

Mr Mwangi was among witnesses expected to give evidence against the officer after the killing of his younger brother, Mr Kenneth Kimani Mwangi, who was shot dead on April 14, last year.

Both killings happened in Githurai, where the two brothers lived.

'DOING HIS WORK'

But residents said both men were known criminals and for that reason, they said, Mr Musila should not be arrested or prosecuted for “doing his work well”.

The locals said they would continue blocking the road until the policeman is released and allowed to continue serving there.

“We want Katitu back here, he had helped eliminate criminals in the area and was not taking bribes like other officers in (the) Kasarani Division. The man he shot and killed last weekend was a notorious criminal,” said a resident who only identified himself as Josiah.

“The officer had made Githurai and Zimmerman very safe, but since his arrest last week, we are now at the mercy of criminals, who are bragging that they are invincible as Katitu is no longer around,” said another resident, Ms Trizah Wambui.

BLOCKED FOR HOURS

The busy road was blocked for five hours despite police efforts to open it up.

Several vehicles had their windscreens smashed by the mob. Boda boda riders, too, were not spared, and some sustained injuries as demonstrators hurled stones at them and demanded that they stop doing business.

Efforts by Kasarani police boss Augustine Thumbi to calm the protesters failed as residents closed their businesses to demand the reinstatement of the officer.

The residents described how the officer would warn criminals several times before eliminating them.

“He would even give bus fare to criminals to go back to their villages and stop engaging in crime. He would give them time to change their ways,” added another resident who declined to reveal his name.

Mr Musila was remanded to the Industrial Area Prison pending the hearing of the case.