Baby shot dead in routine Sh50 bribery demand

A demand for a routine Sh50 bribe by police officers on patrol at a chang’aa den in a slum at Kahawa West, Nairobi, turned tragic after a two-year-old boy was shot at close range in unclear circumstances.

Police initially said that officers had been dispatched to Soweto slum to arrest chang’aa dealers when a confrontation ensued, leading to the accidental shooting of the child, but residents have denied that fact.

Dan Githinji, who was one month shy of his third birthday, was playing with his friends near his parents’ house at Soweto slum on Sunday night when a crowd following up on an argument between two women who brew chang’aa in the neighbourhood and police officers approached them.

Had the two-year-old boy not been at that spot at that particular time, he would have made it to his grandmother’s house for a plate of rice and cabbage that had been prepared for supper.

JUSTICE

The food was still in a sufuria Monday; it was the only memory Githinji’s grandmother had of what was supposed to be a weekend of bonding with her grandson. She kept opening it, wishing her grandchild had at least got a chance to enjoy it one last time.

“Rice and cabbage stew was one of his favourite meals,” his grandmother Teresia Njeri told the Nation.

“When the meal was ready, I called his mother to bring him to the house to eat and she said he was out playing with his friends. Moments later the sad news came in that my grandson had been shot dead by a rogue officer,” recalled Ms Njeri.

On a seat in Ms Njeri’s mabati house lay a blue pair of jeans recently worn by Githinji.

That, too, was too painful for his grandmother to look at. “It’s so sad that I shall never see him again. Please arrest the rogue officer who committed that terrible mistake of ending the life of my little boy,” she pleaded.

While the demand for bribes by the police, which is usually passed off as protection money, is rampant in the alcohol retail industry across the country, it can sometimes get ugly especially when the operators do not part with the cash as demanded.

INVESTIGATION

Amnesty International has condemned the shooting and called for speedy investigation.

It “condoles with the family of the deceased baby during this sad time. The family should be advised that the National Police Service Act and the Public order Act are clear on the use of force and firearms by our security officers,” said Mr Irungu Houghton, the executive director.

Residents of Soweto said two officers from Maziwa Police Post under the Kasarani Sub-County failed to get the Sh50 they wanted from a chang’aa den on Sunday night.

Those who saw the commotion told the Nation that the officers poured two drums of busaa from the den after its owners refused to part with the money.

This sparked an argument between two women who run the den and the two officers, which degenerated fast.

COMMOTION

The officers walked away from the den, but its owners, who were drunk, followed them as they exchanged words. The commotion attracted a small crowd, which started following the four.

Githinji and his friends, who were playing at the border between Soweto and Congo slums, were unfortunately caught up in the mix.

It’s still not known what caused one of the officers to cock his AK 47 and shoot a small child, but the bullet entered through Githinji’s back and ripped out his stomach as it exited his body.

Githinji’s mother, 20-year-old Joyce Muthoni, said she heard the commotion but did not give it a lot of thought until a group of children rushed to her house shouting, “mama Dan, Dan has been shot”.

“At first I was unsure of what they meant because they spoke in a language that made it look like child’s play. Then I saw him,” she recalled from the Kasarani Police Station where she had gone to record a statement.

HARASSMENT

A big stain of dried blood was still at the spot where the child was shot as residents tried to come to terms with what happened.

Residents said the officers shot the boy are well known. “They come here every day to collect bribes from the chang’aa traders, and when they don’t get what they want they harass and arrest everyone in sight,” claimed one of the residents.

The two officers alleged to have committed the act have since been arrested.

Kasarani police commander Peter Kimani said the matter is still under investigation.

The Sunday night shooting of Githinji was not the first one in recent times where young children are getting shot in unclear circumstances due to use of extreme force by the police, especially in the slums.