Six Kenya Wildlife Service KWS officers attached to the Tsavo East National Park have been apprehended and detained at the Malindi Police Station in connection with the brutal murder of a 50-year-old man in December last year.
According to Tana River County Criminal Investigation Officer Wycliffe Sifuna, the six are accused of murdering Lami Bocha inside the Tsavo East national park where he was arrested herding cattle with his three teenage sons.
Sifuna added the four were arrested and their tormentors proceeded to torture and shoot Bocha dead and dumped the corpse in the crocodile-infested Galana river as the boys watched. The boys were then detained at the KWS cells in Voi.
He added that the alleged crime took place on December 24, 2018 and that it is the sons of the deceased who gave out information of the killings to residents and police in Garsen, Tana River County immediately they had been set free on December 28, 2018.
The corpse was never recovered but police who visited the alleged scene of the crime said they recovered spent cartridges, blood-stained clothes and gloves. Police say a forensic analysis of these exhibits is underway.
“We had to conduct an identification parade for the accused in Malindi instead of Garsen because the residents were baying for their blood (detained KWS officers’) and the boys positively identified those who killed their father and we arrested them,” Sifuna said.
He added that investigations that commenced in January this year were near completion and that the suspects will be arraigned in court very soon to face murder charges.
“Nearly everything is done, we have visited the scene of crime and collected spent cartridges and other exhibits and it is also said that they might have disposed the body of the old man to the crocodile-infested river Galana,” he added. Garsen Member of Parliament Ali Wario condemned the killing and commended the police for ensuring that the suspects were arrested to help with the investigations.
“I want to say that nobody is above the law and that those officers who committed the heinous act should face serious charges,” he said.