The Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has written to the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai demanding that five police officers suspected to have murdered a civilian inside Changamwe Police station be arrested.
In a statement issued by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), the five are set to be charged in court over the murder of Caleb Otieno on September 18, 2018. He died aged 40 years old.
IPOA said it has been investigating the death since Otieno was murdered and the five constables are believed to be aware of what happened.
“The police had arrested and booked Otieno at around 8 pm, allegedly for being drunk and disorderly,” IPOA said in a statement.
It further revealed that Otieno was booked inside the station but hours later he was rushed to the Coast General Hospital.
The deceased was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The incident saw the officer in charge of the station notify IPOA which kicked off an investigation into the murder of Otieno.
A post-mortem conducted days after Otieno died by Government pathologist Johansen Oduor confirmed that the deceased suffered a series of injuries before he died.
The findings were contrary to what Changamwe Police boss then Peter Omanwa said.
According to Omanwa, the deceased collapsed in the police cell and was pronounced dead after he was rushed to the hospital.
The death was being closely followed by Human Rights Activists led by Muhuri Executive Director Hassan Abdille.
Abdille has been claiming that the family of Otieno did not receive the justice he deserved.
He accused the police of not putting in much effort to follow up on the matter.
According to Abdille, Otieno died when police charged and pounced on him with wooded clubs, punches and kicks.
At some point, police officers handcuffed Otieno from behind during the attack which destabilised him and he fell down hitting a metal box in the cell corridor.
Before his death, Otieno served as a tout within Changamwe town.
Cases of civilians dying inside police cells is not new in the country.
