Ex-minister Sunkuli wants answers after son is found dead
Augustine Salaton Suke. His family says died under unclear circumstances and has since refuted police version that he might have died of in a road accident. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Former Internal Security minister Julius Sunkuli said the police theory that Mr Salaton died in a road accident may be false.
- The former minister told Nation they found his son’s body at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary on Saturday, May 19.
- Police said the body had injuries on the head and lower abdomen which police suspect may have been as a result of an accident.
The Sunkuli family want police to conduct thorough investigations into the death of Mr Augustine Salaton who they said died in unclear circumstances.
Former Internal Security minister Julius Sunkuli and his brother Charles Sunkuli, who is the Environment Principal Secretary, said the police theory that Mr Salaton died in a road accident may be false.
The former minister told Nation they found his son’s body at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary on Saturday, May 19. The body was taken there on May 8 by police officers who said they collected it from a lorry parking lot in Kilgoris, Narok County.
He said he had left his 29-year-old son, who worked as a Chinese interpreter, at their Poroko home when he left for Nairobi on May 7.
VISIT GRANDMOTHER
Mr Salaton is his firstborn from his first marriage with Ms Janet Morentat. “Every morning, he used to visit his grandmother who lives nearby. But the grandmother got concerned when he failed to show up on May 8,” he said.
The family started looking for him without success. The former minister’s wife, Lucy, then reported the matter at Kilgoris police station.
Of Friday evening, he received reports that a body had been collected by police from a parking lot two weeks ago and taken to the mortuary as an unknown person.
Trans Mara West police boss David Wambua said the mortuary in Kilgoris has no freezers, so they moved the body to Kisii hospital.
INJURIES
He said the body had injuries on the head and lower abdomen which police suspect may have been as a result of an accident. “There were skid marks of a lorry at the scene. This indicates that the victim may have been knocked by the vehicle,” said the police boss.
But the family suspects murder. “Besides the injuries, my son’s body appeared to have been burnt with acid. He seems to have struggled a lot in his death, which is evident in the injuries on his head and fingers,” said Mr Sunkuli, a former Chinese ambassador.
“Our questions are more than answers. A postmortem will be done on Tuesday (today) or Wednesday and we will know what for sure caused his death.”
The former minister’s brother said they have asked the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate the death of his nephew.
