Deadly encounters: Did these men have to die in the hands of police?

On the evening of October 15, Mr Stephen Weru, a boda-boda rider, and his passenger only identified as Wambua were stopped by a police officer at EMCO Mowlem. The officer told them: “Chagueni kwenye mnataka kukufia (Choose where you wish to die).”

This is according to a report filed at the Dandora Justice Centre. It was a troubling statement that got them to cry out for their dear life. They were immediately asked to lie down and the officer shot them at close range.

Mr Weru had been arrested earlier that evening at around 6pm and taken to Kinyango Police Station, but was later freed.

He headed straight home to pick up a motorcycle he was employed to operate when he was rearrested along with Wambua.

GUNFIRE

Weru’s father, Mr James Ngare, said the family was upcountry attending a burial when the incident happened. They returned to find their son’s body at City Mortuary. It had two bullet wounds, one in the throat and the other in the face.

On October 21, Mr Clinton Shahenza received a call about his brother, Viscount Lumasai, from their mutual friend.

The friend told him that Lumasai had been arrested by police and that he should rush to the Dandora Phase 3-41 stage and check on him.

On arrival he was told his brother had been arrested by an officer only identified as ‘Masha’ and shot as he tried to run away.

On Sunday, October 28, a brief moment of silence fell over the ACK St Monica's Dandora church as congregants stopped to listen as a hail of gunfire rent the air.

COLLATERAL

The echoes were coming from the dumpsite not far from the church. That morning Alex Githuku Macharia, a scrap metal dealer aged 34, had been going about his usual business when he found himself in the company of Davis Tekei, 21, and Fredrick Ochieng, 22, a mechanic.

They were soon joined by Vincent Madu Oduor, 29, a matatu tout who had been dropped off to have lunch in a nearby kiosk. Oduor passed by to see Macharia, who also used to sell bhang.

Unfortunately, they were joined by a fifth person, Jacob Chege Kaberia, 24, who was on the police watchlist. When the police in plain clothes shot Kaberia, they also shot the other four.

One day in July, Alfred Kwasi Isaah, a 28-year-old boda-boda operator, was told by police that he was wanted for theft.

OMINOUS

Then on October 26, he was walking along Lamu Road when people in a Subaru Outback grabbed him and forced him into their vehicle.

Word of the events reached his family that same evening. “We looked for him to no avail. We had even left our contact at City Mortuary in case the body was brought there,” a family member said.

Then on October 28, someone from the mortuary called to say some bodies had been taken there.

When family went to confirm whether his body was among them, they found he had four bullet wounds. “It is almost obvious around here that when you are taken by a vehicle like that then the police are involved,” Mr Said Kamau, a volunteer at the Kamukunji Justice Centre, said.

ARRESTED

The following day, October 29, Timothy Wanjala, 27, a broker said to have been dealing in stolen items, including phones, had gone to eat at Burma. As he was exiting the market he was sprayed with bullets.

“We know the killer cop of this area; he’s known by the name Benben but we do not have his real name. There’s another one who goes by the name Bling,” Mr Kamau said.

On the same day, Evans Peter Oduor, a 24-year-old barber, was sleeping in a shack next to his barbershop in Mathare North.

It was minutes to 5am. He was startled out of his slumber to find police standing over him. They immediately started beating him up.

Mama Kui, a neighbour, said: “He begged the police to stop beating him and take him to the station. When the witnesses became too loud, the police loaded him into the boot of their car — a white Probox — and left with him.” That was the last day he was seen alive.

VICTIMS

On October 27, at around 7pm, Evans Odhiambo Oriko, 25, a mechanic in Grogon, Nairobi, had just returned to Mathare North, where he lived, when a bullet from police in pursuit of thugs who had robbed a local supermarket hit him in the thigh.

He was taken to the nearest clinic for treatment. And just as his wife, Evelyn Atieno, and a neighbour were in the process of transferring him to Mama Lucy Hospital, police officers in plain clothes came looking for him.

They bundled him into the boot of the car. Odhiambo was found the following day at City Mortuary with six more gun wounds.

At around the same time, four boys were taken to the Mathare North Primary School grounds and shot dead at night.

TEENAGER

And on Sunday, October 29, Bernard Otieno-Obingi, 19, was returning home from a vigil when he encountered police officers on patrol in Mathare North.

It was approaching 5am. His first instinct was to run. And he ran. Only this time the police also ran after him. His body was also found in the school field.

Also found in the field was the body of a 24-year-old casual worker at Chonjo hotel in the area, who had also ran right into a group of police officers.

He was bundled into the boot of a police car and that was the last he was seen alive.

His body had bullet wounds when it was found near the bodies of John Njuguna, 17, who had been arrested from Ngei and taken to Mathare reportedly by an officer known only as Rashid. Two other bodies next to his were unidentified.

WATCH LIST

Their story is not very different from that of George Ouma, 42, who was arrested together with Daniel Mburu, 32, on November 1. Their bodies were found in Kiamaiko next to Mathare River.

Information on the other three young men was still scanty by the time of going to press but they have been identified only as Guide, Huruma and Ngei.

They were shot on October 30, not long after they had moved to the area.

Another victim, Nicholas Bandu, a boda-boda operator, was picked up from Mlango Kubwa and found dead on Saturday, October 27, near St Teresa Secondary School.

Bandu had been warned by a police officer known as Rashid that he was wanted for ferrying gangsters.

“In the case of Bandu, there was only one witness who carried the cop who executed him from the stage on a boda-boda. He has also gone missing,” Ms Sumaya Al-Amin, a monitor of extrajudicial killings with the Mathare Social Justice Centre, said.

She said her colleague was being threatened by police and they were all afraid for their lives.