Family accuses police of man's brutal killing in South B slum

A 23 year-old man was allegedly sprayed with eight bullets by an ununiformed police officer while basking at Kisumu Ndogo area of Nairobi's Mukuru Kaiyaba slum in South B.

Residents protested on Tuesday, alleging Stephen Thuo was killed on Monday in a case of mistaken identity and that he was not a criminal.

'MISTAKE'

Those interviewed said they saw the shooter order the man to lie down before firing eight times.

They said he then handed a toy pistol to a female police officer who placed it on the body.

Mr Thuo's mother Glady’s Wanjiku said he was a tout who operated at the Bellevue stage along Mombasa Road.

“I served him chapati at 10am and left him in his house. I went to my business only to be called in the afternoon and told that Thuo had been shot by a police officer while basking in the sun,” said the woman who sells clothes.

Resident Caren Otieno, 27, said she was with Mr Thuo before the incident and that he was jovial.

“Thuo was mistakenly killed by the police officer. He is not a gangster. I was with him before he was killed. I saw the officer killing him by pumping bullets into his body after he was ordered to lie face down. He was helpless. We need justice,” she said.

SCENE

At the scene were spent cartridges and the slippers that Mr Thuo is said to have been wearing.

Residents covered the pool of blood with soil but refused to help police remove the body from the scene. It was taken to City Mortuary.

Friends and relatives gathered at Ms Wanjiku’s house to console her.

She said she would go to Industrial Area Police Station to seek a permit to bury her son today, in line with Islam.

Makadara assistant police boss, Eunice Muthoni said she was in a meeting so she could not comment.