Wife of man killed in police cell sues State for compensation
The widow of Martin Koome, who was killed by former Ruaraka OCS Nahashon Mutua, has filed a compensation suit against the State.
Penina Nkuene Kaumbuthu has sued the Attorney General, Inspector General of Police and Mutua for the death of her husband who was killed while in a police cell on December 19, 2013.
The former OCS was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of the murder.
To cover up his act, the former OCS had implicated one Kelvin Odhiambo, who had also been arrested and was in the cell with the deceased and charged him.
However, Odhiambo sought the help of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) and charges against him were withdrawn and he became a witness against the OCS who also lost an appeal against his sentence.
In her petition, the widow accuses the state of violating his right to life guaranteed in the constitution when the former OCS subjected him to violence, torture and cruelty leading him to succumb to his injuries.
“My late husband was treated in an inhumane and degrading manner by the law enforcement officers at Ruaraka Police Station who were under the OCS when they failed to take him to hospital immediately, when he sustained life-threatening injuries,” she says in court documents.
Through lawyer Ruth Kihuria of International Justice Mission, the widow says her late husband was a young man with a family and was at the prime of his life.
She says since his death, she continues to suffer grief and enduring trauma with her children from the untimely death.
“Martin was treated in an inhumane and degrading manner by law enforcement officers at Ruaraka Police station who are under the OCS when they failed to take him to hospital immediately, he sustained life threatening injuries,” she says in court documents.
The widow contends that the IG’s failure to investigate all officers who acted together with the OCS in Martin Koome’s death amounts to the violation of his right to equal protection.
