The body of Job Omariba, 28, had physical injuries on the neck, arms and stomach according to police/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 30 – A former nurse based in Meru who has been missing for one week was on Tuesday identified at a mortuary in Machakos in what appears to be yet another case of extra-judicial killing in the country.
The body of Job Omariba, 28, had physical injuries on the neck, arms and stomach according to police.
Detectives say the injuries indicate that Omariba underwent torture before he was killed.
His body was collected by police from a thicket in Salama along the Mombasa Highway a day after he went missing on August 21.
It wasn’t until Tuesday that he was identified.
Already three police officers and a taxi driver are in custody over the incident.
The officers in detention are based at Riruta and Kabete police stations and were arrested because they were the last people to be seen with the deceased in Nairobi.
Head of Special Crime Prevention Unit Noah Katumo said police traced the body at the mortuary after receiving information from the public.
“We will conduct post-mortem on the body to know the cause of the death as the probe continues,” Katumo said.
The body was identified by his relatives including his emotionally overwhelmed wife.
Detectives have been given 10 days to hold the four as the probe goes on.
His wife last saw the former nurse on August 21 when he left Meru for Nairobi to meet a friend.
Police handling the case say Omariba was spotted along Moi Avenue as he boarded a taxi while in the company of three men on August 21.
The incident comes two months after the abduction and murder of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
The three went missing in July as they drove along Mombasa Road from the Mavoko Law Courts and their bodies were later found in a river in Oldonyo Sabuk.
Four police officers are facing murder charges over the death of the three.
Cases of police brutality have increased in the country, with human rights organisations and IPOA calling for stern measures against rogue officers.
Recently, a man was shot dead on a hospital bed in Mwingi in another case implicating the police.
A report made at the Ukasi Police Station in Kitui indicates that a total of 17 bullets were fired during the 3am incident inside the hospital, sending panic among patients and medical staff on duty.
The 27-year-old man had been shot and wounded by gunmen at 8pm on Wednesday and was seeking treatment when armed men raided the hospital and finished their mission.
According to police, the man was carjacked by four men who shot him in the head, leaving him in a critical condition before he was assisted by Samaritans to the hospital.
“The deceased had earlier recounted to police how he was carjacked at Majengo area in Kitui, blindfolded and taken to a thicket at Sosoma junction where he was shot in the head and left ribs,” a senior police officer said of the incident that occurred off the Mwingi-Garissa highway.
Two police officers have since been arrested over the killing.
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