Court told how officers brutally killed colleague

Gerald Mwangi gives evidence at Nyeri Law Courts during hearing of a murder case against an Administration Policeman Simon Nzomo on February 21, 2017. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Gerald Mwangi told Justice Teresia Matheka that Eliud Wanjohi was strangled and assaulted by his colleagues Simon Nzomo and Samuel Chemobo.
  • The deceased was chewing miraa and drinking a soda when his colleagues approached him.
  • Mr Wanjohi begged them to leave him alone while asking for help from the onlookers but the officers continued beating him.
  • Government pathologist Okoth Obiero told the court that a post-mortem showed that Mr Wanjohi died from lack of oxygen.

A Nyeri High Court has heard how two Administration Police officers brutally killed their colleague on August 13, 2011 at Kabaru shopping centre in Kieni, Nyeri County.

Eyewitness Gerald Mwangi told Justice Teresia Matheka that Eliud Wanjohi was assaulted and strangled by his colleagues Simon Nzomo and Samuel Chemobo at a pub.

He said Mr Wanjohi was chewing miraa and drinking a soda when his colleagues approached him.

“They spoke to him in a language that I did not understand because I am not learned and Wanjohi stood up immediately and went to the pub. They followed him there telling him that he would face the consequences,” narrated Mr Mwangi.

PRAYING FOR HELP

He added that the officers also used a curtain on the pub’s entrance to cover Mr Wanjohi's mouth and nose during the brawl.

“Inside the pub one officer held his neck and the other his stomach. They were very cruel to him. I was watching through the window,” said Mr Mwangi, a boda boda operator.

Mr Wanjohi, the court heard, begged them to leave him alone while asking for help from onlookers but the officers continued roughing him up.

He also said the officers pushed Mr Wanjohi to the ground and Mr Nzomo stepped on his stomach several times with force until the victim passed urine on himself.

Mr Nzomo, the witness said, looked startled at what he saw and moved a few metres away before calling Kiganjo Police Station officers to collect Mr Wanjohi's body.

LACK OF ENOUGH OXYGEN

Another witness, government pathologist Okoth Obiero, told the court that the post-mortem showed that Mr Wanjohi died from lack of oxygen.

“I found that his nose and mouth must have been forcefully covered before death. The neck region and muscles were damaged and had injuries,” said the pathologist.

He conducted the post-mortem at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital and produced the report in court as an exhibit.

The case, in which the prosecution has lined up more than 10 witnesses, continues on March 15.

Mr Nzomo and Mr Chemobo are charged with murder in the death of Mr Wanjohi, who was stationed at the Narumoru Police Station.

They were said to have been on patrol when they met Mr Wanjohi and brutally beat him, leaving him for dead.

Mr Chemobo died on December 12, 2012 in a road crash, leaving Mr Nzomo alone in the trial.