Isaac Omolo Okech in a Nairobi court in July 16, 2013 where he narrated
how his father and brother were killed in cold blood.PHOTO/ PAUL OGEMBA
By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, July 16 2013 at 21:16
Posted Tuesday, July 16 2013 at 21:16
In Summary
- He said other officers then arrived in a car. They came with some photographers who took pictures of the bodies lying close to the weapons. The officers then hurriedly loaded the bodies into the vehicle and sped away.
“I heard them shooting my father. I heard them
shooting my brother too despite his pleas that they were not robbers and
were just going to the market to buy vegetables.”
This was the testimony by Isaac Omolo Okech as he narrated how his father and brother were killed in cold blood.
The memory was too much for the 19-year-old and he
broke down and wept as he recounted the events of that fateful morning
of November 23, 2011.
High Court judge Isaac Lenaola allowed the teenager time to compose himself before narrating the experience.
Heard gunshots
Okech said the incident occurred while he was on
holiday. Although his father, Mr Ibrahim Oketch Ondego, had asked him
and his brother Joseph Nyaberi to accompany him to Gikomba Market to buy
vegetables for sale at their kiosk in Kawangware Estate, he decided to
remain behind.
“It was a few minutes past 3am when they left and
it wasn’t long when I felt the urge to go to the toilet. My brother
apparently forgot some money in the house and came back to collect it
but as he was rushing back to catch up with Dad, I heard the gunshots,”
said Okech.
Soon after the gunshots, he heard his brother
crying and pleading with the killers that they were not robbers, that
the person in front was his father and they were just going to the
market to buy vegetables for sale.
“I heard him say: ‘That is my father, we are going
to the market’ but instead of listening to him, I heard two more
gunshots and the shouts went quiet,” said a sobbing Okech.
He said he wanted to follow them but he feared due
to what had happened and decided to call his father. The phone rang
several times but no one picked it. After some time, it was switched
off.
The teenager then went to a neighbour’s house and
they decided to go and check what had happened. The two found people
gathered around two bodies. He was told that they were not the bodies of
his father and brother.
“I insisted to see the bodies because I knew the
clothes they were wearing. I forced my way past the crowd and saw my
father and brother lying dead,” recalled Okech.
According to him, one police officer put a pistol
next to the body of his father and a panga next to the body of his
brother to give the impression that they were robbers.
He said other officers then arrived in a car. They
came with some photographers who took pictures of the bodies lying
close to the weapons. The officers then hurriedly loaded the bodies into
the vehicle and sped away.
Okech said that one police officer insisted that
his father was involved in the illegal business of slaughtering sheep
behind their house.
“This was a lie since my father was only engaged
in selling vegetables and other farm produce in our shop,” stated the
teenager.
He was testifying during the hearing of a case
filed by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the Release
Political Prisoners Trust, seeking compensation for the killing of his
father and brother in 2011.
The two lobbies have also sued police officers Dewrock Musili and Simon Kikwai over the killings.
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