Photojournalist Boniface Mwangi Arrested And Beaten by A Female Cop For Asking Too Many Questions (PHOTO)
For this story, I will let the horse tell it straight from his own mouth because of how passionate he is. Check out his saga:
ASSAULT BY POLICE OFFICERS AT WILSON AIRPORT.
On 7th March 2014, around 2pm, l was being dropped at Wilson airport by Brian Inganga in our office vehicle KBW 829N. Near the entry gate roadblock the driver moved the car off to the side of the road so that Njeri Mwangi (my wife) could say hallo to her sister who she had spotted. While they were talking a police officer service number 91687 came and asked the drive for his license. Brian produced the license, which the officer picked and walked away with after accusing him of obstruction. Since Brian hadn’t obstructed, l followed the police officer while carrying my two and a half year old son to ask why she was walking away with the driver’s license. She just walked straight into Wilson police station and l followed her holding my son, while Judy mbethe (My wife’s sister) was right behind us.
A verbal argument ensued between me and the female officer, service number 91687, that led her fellow officers to accuse of me “disrespecting her” because she was a woman. I was asking her questions to which her response was “peleka ujinga mbali” (take your stupidity far away). Another officer, service number 33392, grabbed me by the neck and with the help of another officer in civilian clothes started beating me up for “disrespect”. The officer, service number 33392, was choking me against the wall while the one in civilian clothes (who l can clearly identify) rained blows on my head all the while my son was screaming. They pushed me into a room and called for someone to bring handcuffs. l pleaded with them to let me take my son who was crying out for me but they refused. My sister-in-law who was there picked up my son and went to call Brian, the driver, whose driving license’s confiscation had led to the incident. I was chained to a metal box in the station and when Brian came he was chained next to me.
The OCS, a Mr. Cheboren, came in around 3:30pm and we were ushered into his office. He listened to our version of the story and told us to wait outside his office. At around 5pm they asked us to give out statements. The OCS then informed me that l was going to be charged with “Disorderly Conduct”. He also promised that l could record a statement of my assault after getting processed for court. After he left, I was fingerprinted and released on a cash bail of Ksh 5,000. I went straight to the report office and said l wanted to report the assault. They refused to take my statement and told me to go away. I called the Officer Commanding Police Division Langata, Mr. Yono on his number 0722 227890, and told him that they had refused to record my statement. He said Wilson Airport was not under his jurisdiction and that I should talk to Mr. Mukoma – Officer Commanding Airport Police Unit, and gave me Mukoma’s number. I called Mukoma on 0721 535 977 and after telling him my name, he said he was aware of the incident and that l was at fault and not his officers and that l should take my complaints to court on Monday and his officers will only take my statement of the assault if they got a court order.
After that l just went straight to the AAR Medical Centre at George Williamson House and was checked by a doctor who wrote for me a medical report. On Monday l shall appear at Kibera Law court to face “disorderly conduct” just because l asked what police consider wrong “questions”.
