DCI Nets Rogue Officers After Prisoner's Gruesome Death

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has reined in on two prison officers following the death of a prisoner under their custody at Naivasha Maximum Prison.

In a statement published on Twitter on Wednesday, January 29, the DCI announced that it had arrested two officers after investigations found them culpable in the murder of the prisoner identified as Simon Nduro Gitahi.

"Following completion of an inquest into the death of an inmate, namely Simon Nduro Gitahi in Naivasha, DCI detectives in the lakeside town have arrested two prison officers, namely Sergeant Dennis Wandati Masibo and Constable Obadiah Meriti Lansika alias Masai both from Naivasha Maximum Security Prison," the DCI announced.

The suspects were taken under lawful custody pending arraignment on charges of murder of the convict contrary to Section 203 of the Penal Code Cap 63 (Laws of Kenya).

The parents of Simon Nduro Gitahi (pictured) rejected police accounts that their son died of an asthmatic attack.

Reports indicate that Nduro died in June 2019 at the maximum prison, where he was serving a life sentence.

He is reported to have met his death at the hands of the two prison warders who allegedly beat him up for not queuing properly, before locking him up in an isolation cell where he later died.

After the prisoner's death, the authorities reported that he had succumbed from a severe asthmatic attack, a matter that Gitahi's father vehemently challenged.

“My son’s body has visible bruises on the ribs, legs and with several open wounds,” he told the Daily Nation in June 2019.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) launched investigations on the case immediately after information about Gitahi's gruesome death surfaced.

His death also attracted the interest of many lobby groups, most notably the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights (KNHCR) which demanded justice to be served.

The Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) also weighed in with a statement on June 18, 2019, and asked the police to speed up the probe and bring the officers to book.

Simon Ndura Gitahi was serving a life sentence at the Naivasha Maximum Prison before he met his death in June 2019.

 

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