Tobiko orders inquest on 2013 police shootings in Kisumu

Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko has ordered a public inquest into the killings of two people in Kisumu by police after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner in March 2013.

The two were shot dead when protests by Cord supporters turned violent on March 30 over a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the election of Mr Kenyatta as president.

Police officers were called in to disperse the protesters.

It was alleged that in the ensuing violence, the police fatally shot Joseph Ongoro Ochieng and Eric Ouma Ndia.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) subsequently investigated the shootings and concluded that the police “expended indiscriminate force even on non-demonstrators who were not involved in the demonstrations.”

IPOA forwarded the file to Mr Tobiko, who directed that the matter be disposed of by way of an inquest.

IPOA relied on post mortem examinations that revealed Mr Ndia, one of the victims, “died of abdominal gunshot injuries” while Mr Ochieng “died as a result of acute haemorrhage due to a gunshot wound to the left thigh that severed his femoral artery.”

Mr Ochieng, a carpenter was allegedly shot when police officers stormed Kibuye Market and randomly shot and lobbed teargas at people who had sought refuge in the market, the IPOA report stated.

In total, 21 people were shot during the demonstrations and most of them had broken ribs and soft tissue injuries.

The IPOA investigations also established that police used excessive force on members of the public including those who never participated in the demos.