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Were Gucha Police Involved in Attack?
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 08 July 2007 23:40
The day was Sunday, April 25, 2004. Darkness was just setting in and Magema village of Ogembo Division, Gucha District was peaceful, and villagers had no reason to believe anything would breach their peace.
The family of James Mose Mogeni was home with his wife, Milcah Kemunto, busy preparing the evening meal with her children in the kitchen.
Metres away in a separate house, Mogeni was having a chat with his fourth born, 23-year-old Joshua Mose.
The Mogenis had spent the day within the compound clearing a bush that was threatening to eat up part of the homestead and tired, they looked forward to an early supper after which they would retire to bed in time.
However, at about 7.45 p.m., hell broke loose and the peaceful evening turned tragic. An armed gang of about five descended in to the home for reasons that have never been clearly established.
They were armed with guns and clubs and wore masks. The gangsters also seemed to know their way around the homestead, as they entered through the main door and window at the rear.
"At first, I thought they were ordinary guests when the door opened, but when others sneaked in through the window, I knew something was wrong. They were masked and it was a little bit dark though the lantern was on," says Milcah.
One by one, the men entered the house and took strategic positions. When the fourth one entered things got messy. "I was in a state of shock, the men were armed, none of them was talking and it was difficult to understand what they wanted.
As for the fourth one, I had a feeling that I knew him. When he noticed I could recognise him, he became nervous and began trembling. He wanted to run away but from his position, he could not make a quick dash. It is then that he came towards me telling his colleagues ndie huyu, ndie huyu (this is the one, this is the one)," says Dickson Nyamumbe Mose, Mogeni's 20-year-old son who had been helping his mother prepare dinner.
"A commotion ensued, and the lantern fell and went off. Soon there was darkness, then shots rent the air. I found myself down, bleeding. I knew immediately I had been shot. I called out for help as the thugs ran out," says Nyamumbe.
A few minutes later, Mogeni and his son Joshua arrived to answer the SOS. "We had heard the commotion but did not think it was within our homestead. I thought police were battling thugs at the road a few metres away," says Joshua.
"But when we entered the house, we discovered that it was our family under attack. My brother was lying down writhing in pain, my mother was wailing while the other children were cuddled at a corner."
Immediately, I carried him on my shoulder to the roadside to seek help. He had been shot on the back and the bullet had come out through his stomach," Joshua says.
He adds: "At the road, was a police LandCruiser, registration GK F175H. I was relieved. I knew help had come. I thought they had heard the gunshots and were coming to check what was happening. The light truck's lights were off and had a driver and a passenger in civilian clothes. They were conversing in hushed tones and being dark, I could not see them properly."
Joshua says that immediately the two spotted him carrying his brother, one of them asked, "is that a sick person? Let us help you."
"But as they were helping my brother into the vehicle, what transpired moments later shocked me. About four other people - also clad in civilian clothes - emerged from a thicket by the roadside panting as if they had been running.
They were masked. Immediately, they jumped into the car as the driver shouted nitawaacha, twendeni, nitawaacha twende (let's go, I will leave you). They jumped in and the vehicle sped off leaving me still in shock."
Were these people real policemen or the thugs who had raided Mogeni's home? If they were well-intentioned policemen, why did they speed off without taking into consideration the details of the injured person in the truck?
What duty were they on if not responding to the SOS call from Mogeni's home, which is less than 300 metres from the roadside where they had been parked and, why were they-masked?
What could they have been doing in the thicket and why did the driver speed off immediately the others emerged from the bush?
"I sensed that my brother could be in the wrong hands and rushed back home. With my father, we walked to the nearby Ogembo Hospital about two kilometres away, hoping to find my brother. He had been there, but referred to Kisii District Hospital before we arrived. At the hospital, we were told that he had been taken there by policemen who said they had picked him by the roadside," Joshua says.
Why did the police say they had picked the patient by the roadside, yet he had been with his brother when they collected him?
At the Kisii Hospital, the patient was left at the lobby and those who had taken him refused to record their names. Doctors later confirmed that Nyamumbe had been shot on the back and the bullet had ruptured his intestines. He had also lost a lot of blood.
Confident that his brother was now in safe hands, Joshua and his father went back home. In the morning they went to the Ogembo Police Station where they recorded statements.
At around 10 a.m. on Monday, playing children stumbled on a body in the compound. They alerted their mother immediately. The body had bullet wounds while the face was masked.
Could he have been part of the gang and shot by his colleagues by mistake. If not, who shot him?
When the body was unmasked, it was realised that it was a neighbour's son.
His body was taken to Kisii and doctors confirmed he had been shot dead.
What could he have been doing at Mogeni's homestead? Why was he masked?
"It is him that I had noticed when the thugs entered the house, he knew I had noted him and grew nervous," says Nyamumbe now recovered and who has refused to go back to his home, fearing for his life.
Meanwhile, police from Ogembo did not collect the masked body. They never even came to the scene of crime to investigate what had transpired. It took the effort of the family to have detectives from the provincial headquarters in Kisumu to come and do preliminary investigations.
"CID officers from Kisumu came later in the day, took photos and left, they never came back," says Joshua.
Why did police from Ogembo fail to visit the crime scene and to start investigations, yet a crime had been committed in their jurisdiction?
Since then, no action has been taken on the shooting or murder. Mogeni's family has insisted that police should arrest the suspects but nothing has yet happened.
However, Ogembo police boss, Inspector Mateche Muyoho says the matter is being investigated. "I am aware of the case and it is being handled by Provincial CID officers in Kisumu. I cannot give details on who was involved because it is a sensitive case. We are working closely and anybody who was involved will be brought to book," he says.
Asked about the involvement of the police vehicle in the matter, Muyoho confirmed that it belongs to the Ogembo police post and that it took Nyamumbe to the hospital.
The neighbour whose body had been discovered behind Mogeni's house was buried in a quiet ceremony and the family did not follow-up the matter. Police in Ogembo say no official complaint was lodged but, "because a crime was committed and somebody died, we are following it up."
But why has the family failed to follow-up the matter? Is it resigned to the fact that their son could have been intent on committing a crime?
The two neighbouring families, were not been on good terms even before the incident, which did nothing but strain the relations even further.
The families had been locked in a land dispute with the other claiming that the Mogenis had encroached on their property.
At one time, the neighbour's son is said to have destroyed a fence separating the two homes and barricaded the way to Mogeni's home. It took the intervention of a local chief to bring calm in a meeting that was snubbed by the other family.
As Joshua carried Nyamumbe to the roadside where he eventually found the police LandCruiser parked, he had met the owner of the other homestead walking to his home but did not talk to him.
It is all puzzling; a police car parked by the roadside with its lights off; masked people emerging from a bush and jumping into the police car which speeds off; the neighbour walking to his home, metres from where the police car was parked, and meanwhile his son dead. Could all these be mere coincidences?
All this added to the fact that police seem to have neglected to investigate the matter raises pertinent questions.
