By Habil Onyango
Even before the dust has settled over the death of a teacher, Albert Ojwang, at Nairobi Central Police Station cells, a fisherman has also died in a police cell in Homa Bay County.
The police claim the suspect, Calvince Omondi Onditi, died by suicide after he allegedly hanged himself in the cell using his long trousers.
Homa Bay County Police Commander, Lawrence Koilim, said that Onditi, a fisherman from Ndhiwa Constituency, was found hanging from the roof of his cell with trousers he had fashioned into a noose.
Onditi was arrested by the local chief around 3 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, after being found in a goat pen near a homestead close to Ndhuru Trading Centre.
He was taken into custody over allegations of bestiality before being handed over to the police at Kipasi for further processing.
But according to reports from Homa Bay Teaching and Referral Hospital, where the body has been preserved, it showed signs of strangulation, with a trouser string around the deceased’s neck and marks indicating strangulation, while the tongue appeared bitten. The report further noted that there were no other visible marks on the body.
However, Suba North MP, Millie Odhiambo, has claimed that the fisherman could have been killed in the police cell.
She slammed the police over the death of a 35-year-old fisherman at Kipasi Police Station in Homa Bay County.
“These deaths in police cells cannot continue. The case of Albert Ojwang remains unresolved, and now Mr Onditi from Ndhuru in my constituency has been killed,” Millie claimed in a post on her Facebook page.
“Yet another death in Homa Bay County, and they (the police) are peddling the ridiculous story of suicide once again,” she said.
This incident occurred as officers were preparing to transfer him to Mbita Police Station for additional questioning.
Koilim confirmed that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and officers from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) had visited the scene and launched an investigation into the death.
Family’s Perspective
Geoffrey Ochieng Ouma, the deceased’s cousin, received a call at around 3 a.m. on Sunday from a villager who informed him of Onditi’s arrest. Ouma said that Onditi was found in one of the homesteads, located in a goat pen.
“On Sunday morning, I received a call from a villager and friend, informing me that my cousin had been caught in a goat pen next to Ndhuru Trading Centre,” he recounted.
Ouma and his brother rushed to the scene, where the area chief was called and subsequently took Onditi to Kipasi Police Station.
They returned to the police station around 8 a.m. for a follow-up on Onditi’s status but were told that he had been transferred to Mbita Police Station by officers on patrol during the night.
However, while returning home, they received another call telling them to rush back to the police station, as their cousin had reportedly committed suicide in the cell at Kipasi.
“We were shocked to hear the news since we had just been informed that he was transferred to Mbita Police Station for processing,” Ouma said.
“When we returned to the station, we found his body hanging from the roof of the cell held by a trouser.”
Ouma mentioned that authorities asked him to sign a consent form for the transfer of the body to Homa Bay Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue, but he declined, stating that the deceased’s parents should sign such forms.
“I told them that the deceased has parents who should be involved in such decisions,” he explained to the press at the hospital.
He hurried home to notify the parents, but upon their return, they discovered that the body had already been taken to the hospital morgue.
The family is now calling on the government to provide clarity regarding their cousin’s death so they can understand what truly happened.
“This trend of being taken to police cells leading to death must come to an end. We want justice for our cousin,” Ouma asserted.
Edited by Sandra Blessing
