NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 16 — One of the suspected gang members killed by the detectives in Murang’a on Sunday was an ex-police officer dismissed from service in 2022.
Joseph Kamau Kang’ethe was killed alongside another yet to be identified suspect as police sought thugs involved in a robbery on Saturday at Unaitas Sacco within Kigumo.
Francis Kang’ethe indicated on Thursday the suspected gang member had worked as a police officer since 2017.
He made the revelation while calling for thorough investigations on the circumstances of his son’s death amid doubts on the account of events given by the police.
“He was working as police but later he deserted work and he was given a deserter which was a summary dismissal,” Kang’ethe said.
Desertion is the abandonment of duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning.
Speaking at the Murang’a County government mortuary as the postmortem on his son’s body was undergoing, Francis Kang’ethe said his son should have been taken through the justice system instead of being killed.
“We heard this through the media on Sunday and we were later told he was already dead and we wondered how did this happen,” he said.
“I request the government to do thorough investigations so that justice can be served. I wonder how someone can be arrested and the next time I am told the person is dead.”
He called upon the government to take appropriate action on those who ended Kang’ethe’s life.
The suspect was killed alongside another man who is yet to be identified following a Saturday robbery at Unaitas SACCO within Kigumo in Muranga County.
Questionable police account
The death of the two suspects caused an uproar from a section Kenyans after Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) retracted an initial account which suggested the two suspects had been arrested.
DCI later indicated the suspects had been killed in a shootout.
The emergence of new images showing the suspects in handcuffs elicited reactions with a section of Kenyans online questioning how the men engaged the police in shootout as reported by DCI.
In its report the DCI said two assault rifles were recovered following what they described a fierce shootout Sunday in Kigumo, Murang’a county.
According to the DCI, the suspects were part of a marauding gang of 6 that had been on police radar after it wrestled an AK-47 rifle loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition from a police officer on patrol within Muthithi area on February 25.
The firearm is believed to have been used in Saturday’s robbery incident.
“In a joint operation between officers drawn from Murang’a and Kiambu counties backed up by an elite team from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, the officers combed Kinyona forest before coming across the two who challenged them to a duel,” the DCI said in a statement Sunday.
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