A Karatina businessman George Gathu who was shot on Sunday night by a police officer after an altercation at the Rubis petrol station in the town, died from multiple perforating gunshot wounds.
Results from a postmortem conducted on Wednesday at the Karatina sub-county hospital morgue showed that the 40-year-old, was shot four times with two bullets striking his chest.
According to a report read out to journalists on Wednesday by the family lawyer, the third bullet pierced the right shoulder and the fourth pierced his head after entering through the ear.
“What is very clear is that the cause of death of the deceased was gunshot wounds. The bullets went to the chest and to the head, there was no way the deceased could have survived. He died on the spot from those injuries,” said Lillian Nyawira, the lawyer representing Gathu’s family.
The incident occurred at 11pm following an altercation between the deceased and the Administration Police officer identified as Peter Wamiti who was on night patrol.
The suspect was attached to the Karatina police station.
At the time of his death, it is said the trader was about to get into his car and was about to drive away after a heated argument with another unidentified man. It is then that the Wamiti and his colleague followed him and after a brief argument, Wamiti opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.
The incident sparked protests for the better part of Monday. The irate residents barricaded roads in Karatina town by burning car tires in protest of the fatal shooting while demanding the arrest and prosecution of the officer involved in the killing.
Nyawira told journalist that the postmortem findings contradict an initial position by the police that indicated that Gathu died from a single gunshot as he attempted to grab the riffle from the officer. Nyawira said that the family will object to any cover-up attempts by police.
“My clients will be rejecting any attempts to sanitize the circumstances that led to the shooting. My clients have very clear demands, they want swift, independent and transparent investigations from the oversight authority, IPOA,” she said.
On Tuesday, Nyeri Senior Resident Magistrate Mary Gituma directed that Wamiti remains in police custody for the next 14 days to allow the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to continue its investigations into the killing.
Wamiti is expected in court on February 3 for plea taking.
By Wangari Mwangi
