Francis Auma from Haki Africa, Kazungu Fondo, father to the deceased and Kaloleni MP Paul Katana after the post mortem outside the Coast Provincial General Hospital Mombasa. Photo/CORRESPONDENT.
MOMBASA, Kenya Jul 2 – Rights groups now wants police held responsible for the death of a 17-year-old boy whose body was found in a trench in on Tuesday last week.
This conclusion is also supported by area Member of Parliament Paul Katana of Kaloleni who retained a pathologist for the family.
The slain boy identified as Katana Kazungu was shot at a close range, according to a post mortem report released on Monday afternoon by government pathologist at Coast Provincial General Hospital which tallied with that of a another private pathologist hired by the area MP.
The body of the class seven pupil from Ndatani Primary School was found in a trench with serious wound on the chest last Tuesday.
According to the family members, Kazungu was going home from a funeral with friends when they were reportedly asked to offer some help to try and push a truck that was stuck following the heavy rains.
Police officers from Mariakani police station are reported to have arrived at the scene and started shooting in the air during which the boy was shot at.
It was later reported that the truck that Kazungu and his friends were trying to push out of the mud had been reported missing and police officers said that the youth were mistaken for armed criminals.
Last Friday, the area police boss, Kennedy Osando, said his officers found a crowd of armed youth who were hostile to them, forcing the officers to shoot in the air to disperse them.
“Our officers found the vehicle surrounded by people armed with crude weapons, who were actually hostile to the officers. They were forced to shoot in the air to disperse the crowd,” said Osando.
However, Kaloleni MP on Tuesday told journalists outside the Coast General Provincial Hospital that the young boy had been killed from a close range, according to the post mortem examination.
“He was shot from a very close range. The bullet went through his back, passed through one side of the heart and broke one of the ribs before it exited through the stomach,” said the MP.
Katana said the family had been forced to bury the deceased before a post mortem examination.
“We are aware that the family was being forced to bury the young boy before the examination was done. We want to tell them that we now have the report and that the officers must be held responsible. We are not going to rest until the family gets justice,” said Katana.
Francis Auma, an officer from Haki Africa, a coast-based human rights lobby group wondered why the officers were still free.
“Police must tell us who did this heinous act. This is the sixth day since the young boy was killed, we are telling them to take action or else we will demonstrate on Saturday outside that police station,” said Auma.
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