A Family in Kawangware area of Nairobi is demanding justice after their kin, Hussein Noor Bacho, allegedly died in police custody.
Bacho was arrested by police officers on Monday, June 3, around Galana petrol station and held at Kawangware Police Post before being pronounced dead.
However, discrepancies exist regarding the time and circumstances surrounding his death.
Dagoretti OCPD Kivinda Kilonzo says the deceased was attacked by a mob before he was detained and later died at Kenyatta National Hospital shortly after his arrest.
On the contrary, Bacho’s family insists that the 25-year-old died in custody at around 3 pm on Monday.
Family Demands Justice, Differs with Police Over Cause of Death
The OCPD further stated that police officers took Bacho into custody after rescuing him from a mob.
“We arrested him, held him in the cells, then transferred him to Kenyatta National Hospital. He did not die in our cells,” OCPD Kilonzo said.
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According to Abdulaziz Koropisa, the deceased’s elder brother, Bacho was reported to the police after an altercation with an acquaintance near Delta Carwash in Kawangware.
“They were hanging out when a heated argument turned physical. The man reported it to the police, who then arrested Hussein,” he said.
“Why did it take so long to notify us of our brother’s death? We saw his body at City Mortuary, he had a ring-like mark around his neck. How can a T-shirt cause such a mark? The injury on his neck must have been inflicted by something like a wire. The suicide story is a cover-up.”
On his side Mzee Noor Gabow, Bacho’s father said he was informed of his son’s death at around 10 pm on Monday where a police informer reported that the deceased committed suicide using a T-shirt while in custody.
“A police informer came to my home around 10pm with a T-shirt, claiming my son used it to commit suicide while in custody. When we got to the station, the story changed; they claimed he was a victim of mob justice. Clearly, these inconsistencies speak volume,” Mzee Gabow said.
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Kawangware Residents Protest Bacho’s death
The late Bacho, a car wash operator in Kawangware, is said to have previously served time at the Industrial Area Remand Prison over a robbery-related charge but was later released, something his family believes made him an easy target for the police.
“He has been out for almost a year since he left Industrial Area Prison. The crime that got him behind bars involved being found in possession of a motorbike that had been linked to a crime,” Koropisa added.
On Tuesday June 4, Kawangware residents engaged police in running battles as they demonstrated demanding answers over the man’s death. The protesters lit bonfires, bombarded the police post with stones and damaged several cars.
The family is waiting for a postmortem to determine the cause of his death.
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