Police in Homa Bay County have launched investigations into the death of a 36-year-old man under mysterious circumstances while in custody at Kipasi Police Post in Mbita.
The man, identified as Calvince Omondi Onditi, reportedly died by suicide on the morning of Sunday, June 15, just hours after his arrest around midnight.
Police allege that he used his trousers to hang himself inside a holding room. Omondi, a fisherman at Ndhuru Beach, had allegedly been found trespassing in a goat pen before being apprehended by police after the area chief was alerted.
However, locals, family members, and leaders—including Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo—have disputed the police version of events, calling for a thorough probe.
Odhiambo, visibly angered, dismissed the suicide claims as unconvincing, likening the case to that of Albert Ojwang, another Homa Bay resident who died in suspicious circumstances after being picked up by police.
“These deaths in police cells cannot go on. Albert Ojwang’s case is still unresolved, and now they’ve killed Mr. Onditi in my constituency. Yet again, they’re pushing this stupid suicide narrative,” she stated.
“We were called and told that your brother is dead, and we were left in shock. How could this happen? You informed us he was taken to Mbita just hours earlier, and then this is what we find. When we arrived there, we found him hanging,” added a family member of Omondi.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted at Homa Bay Teaching and Referral Hospital to determine the actual cause of death. At the hospital, Chief Executive Officer Vincent Oduor confirmed that Calvin’s body showed signs of injury.
“We expect that an autopsy will be conducted on the body, but just from an initial overview, we have observed strangulation marks on the neck. The noose, made from long trousers, is still intact, and the tongue is also bitten. So far, there are no other significant marks on the body apart from these,” Oduor stated.
Meanwhile, three civilians who had been detained at the Central Police Station, Nairobi, on the night of Ojwang's death have been arrested in connection with the case.
According to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), the three were instructed by police officers at the station to torture Ojwang to death while in custody.
Although the reasons for their initial arrests have not been made public yet, they are said to have been released shortly after the influencer's death. Following IPOA's probe, they were re-arrested on Sunday and are currently being held separately at Kilimani, Muthangari, and Kileleshwa Police Stations.
