City Park shooting victim speaks out – VIDEO
Mr Bernard Chege, the man who survived the May 20 police shooting incident at City Park where his businesswoman Ms Janet Waiyaki was killed, has accused police of harassing him and treating him like a suspect.
Mr Chege was in tears in his hospital bed on Tuesday as he questioned why police are so brazen in demanding that he gives them samples for DNA testing.
‘SIGN SOME DOCUMENTS’
In the past few days, he said, he had been moved from one ward to another at Avenue Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi, as he tried to dodge police officers whom he said wanted him to “sign some documents”.
“I’m told they want to confirm if it was me who was there (at City Park). It’s the same police who got me from the car with bullet wounds. How can I be a suspect? And they are forcing me to sign (a document) saying (that) if I don’t comply they will use force,” said Mr Chege.
He added: “Let the Inspector-General of Police (Joseph Boinnet) do his job and do it right,” he said.
“I’m getting a lot of pressure here in hospital. My wounds haven’t healed, but the police are always here”.
On Tuesday, Nation team spotted a number of police cars with private number plates in the hospital, though the officers refused to comment on their mission.
Mr Chege’s family lawyer Gitau Gikonyo revealed that police had even gone to an extent of asking hospital staff to extract samples from Mr Chege.
“There is a procedure through which DNA tests are done. As a police officer, you don’t do a letter to a hospital directing one of the health workers to remove samples and if that patient is not complying, you want to apply force,” he said.
‘FOLLOW THE LAW’
“If there are samples that they require, they know the law. And they should be able to follow that law and we’ll be able to advise our client whether it is self-incriminating or not. But if there are reasons for him to provide samples, we have no problem with that,” added Mr Gikonyo.
Mr Chege’s mother Faith Wangeci said she was fearing for the life of her son.
Recalling the events of that day, Mr Chege said he was disappointed by police actions after the shooting.
He said in a Toyota Fielder with Janet, 41, when police knocked on the car windows but he refused to open.
Instead, Mr Chege drove off from the police and they opened fire on them. Janet died on the spot.
Mr Chege said police did not act on his screams for help even as blood gushed from his right side.
“They [police] were a stone’s throw away. They were just watching,” he said.