Police probe death of girl at South ‘B’ AP camp amid rape claims
The woman who developed complications in custody and later died while being treated had spent nine hours in the cold at a police post on Tuesday night.
Mercy Nanjala had been detained at Mariguini Administration Police camp in South ‘B’, Nairobi after her friend, Emily Wasike, who has since disappeared, claimed she stole her phone.
Investigations revealed that when Nanjala was arrested, she said she had been given the handset by Ms Wasike and was ready to surrender it.
Two AP officers, the complainant and a village elder accompanied Nanjala to her house where the phone was found.
DETAINED
However, it did not have SIM and memory cards. The officers decided to detain her until she showed them where the cards were.
Makadara AP boss John Macharia on Sunday admitted that Nanjala was kept at the camp.
She was detained from 8pm on Tuesday until 5am the following day when her condition deteriorated and her family informed to get her.
“The complainant did not want the matter to go to court. At 5am, she developed complications and family members were called. She was taken to hospital and died later,” Mr Macharia said.
DEMONSTRATION
On Saturday night, South B residents demonstrated and barricaded roads when they learnt of the woman’s death. Some demanded to know why Nanjala was not treated immediately she fell ill.
The law only allows AP officers to arrest suspects but not investigate crimes.
Investigations have been launched to establish why the woman was not transferred to Industrial Area Police Station.
County Police Commander Japheth Koome on Sunday said investigations had been launched following claims that Nanjala was raped and assaulted while at the camp.
Officers at the camp denied the claims, saying a family member had told them that Nanjala had health complications.
However the woman’s mother Evalyne Nafula said her daughter was in good health at the time of her arrest.
ASSAULT CLAIMS
“We know she was assaulted. When her condition deteriorated, they called my younger daughter who is only 14 to the camp,” Ms Nafula said.
She said when her daughter was picked up from the police post, she was bleeding and appeared to have been sexually assaulted.
“We have not been able to get a full report from the hospital. We still do not know what reports say was the cause of my daughter’s death,” she said.
The family also wanted the police officers to explain why they were detaining the woman’s phone, whose SIM card had been removed by the complainant.
