Gillian Munyao, the mother of the late Rex Masai, has expressed her frustration with the pace of investigations into the death of her son.
This is after most of the witnesses and agencies she hoped would provide answers on what could have taken her firstborn son’s life, opted to remain silent fearing for their lives.
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Speaking to the press on July 26, Gillian feared that witnesses were adamant in coming forward out of fear of intimidation and victimization.
“Anyone who tries to talk about Rex is being silenced. You’d find that someone is willing to talk but they are afraid,” Gillian said.
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Gillian further narrated Rex’s last moments explaining how he was caught up in the chaos in CBD after leaving work.
In the interview, Gillian revealed that her son met his untimely death after a police officer allegedly shot him in the left thigh as he ran for safety.
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“They alighted at 680, while they were walking down the street, they got caught up in the protests, the police shot him as they ran for safety. In that clip, you can see he is the fourth person from behind,” Rex’s mother narrated.
Moreover, she revealed Rex’s cause of death, recounting the doctor’s explanation about the bullet lodged in his left thigh.
Also Read: Rex Masai Murder: CCTV Footage Fails to Unmask Killer Cop
Rex Masai Cause of Death
The doctors further explained to her that they were not authorized to remove it as the police had already arrived to take a statement.
“He had an opening on his left thigh, so I asked, this tiny thing is what killed my son? They explained that the hard object was a bullet, but they could not remove it as the police had already arrived to record a statement,” she added.
However, despite being told that the bullet in her son’s body would remain intact, Gillian found out on the day of postmortem that the bullet had already been taken out of his body raising questions.
“In my mind, I thought I would find my child the same way I left him, only to find out that they had already removed the bullet from his body,” Gillian noted.
Her concern came barely two days after the DPP stated that he could not prosecute those accused of shooting Rex Masai as the primary witness in the investigation had not appeared to testify on the incident.
LSK Statement
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) also commented on the reason why witnesses in cases involving police killings are not recording statements.
Speaking at the Citizen Assembly forum on July 26, Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo noted that the victims were doing so out of fear following the abductions and murders during the anti-tax demonstrations.
“They fear that some of these victims and survivors could get abducted as well as the fear that they have with regards to the national police service, people fear that the moment they are called, they’ll be identified and thereafter, they may end up disappearing,” Faith said.
Also Read: Rex Masai: Jalang’o Honors Youth Killed by Police in #Rejectfinancebill Protests
In addition, Odhiambo called out the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) while emphasizing the importance of finding solutions and means to support the families of the victims.
Odhiambo further urged the DPP to collaborate with the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to offer witness protection.
“I was quite disappointed by the statement by the directorate of public prosecutions because he should be giving statements instead of throwing his hands up and saying that there is nothing he can do. The DPP has an independent constitutional office and can’t tell the people of Kenya that he is helpless,” Faith said.
“He should find solutions; how does he support these families to ensure that their statements can be taken. To also press the director of DCI to ensure that they carry out proper investigations that if some of these families need witness protection, that they ensure that the same is offered,” she concluded.
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