Romantic walk in the bush ends in tragedy for Kenyan student

An early morning romantic walk in the bush ended tragically when two administration police opened fire killing an 18 year old student. Dennis Simba, a Social Science student at Thika School of Medical and Health Science had stopped his father’s car by the side of the road near Landless estate at Muguga in Thika to take his girlfriend for a walk. As the couple emerged from the bushes on the side of the road, they me with two APs who were on patrol. The couple went ahead to enter their car but were shot at by the policemen. Dennis’ girlfriend who requested not to be identified, said they were inside the car and Dennis was about to switch on the ignition when the police shot at them. “They ordered us to get out of the car and kneel down. As we knelt on the ground with our hands raised, Dennis whispered that he had been shot. He then collapsed and died,”the girl who is still traumatized by the incident said. She said she started screaming attracting the attention of residents who came to the scene. When the policemen realized theboyfriend they ordered them to get out of the car and kneel down. “As we knelt down raising our hands Denis told me he had been shot. He collapsed and died,” said the newly enrolled student from Meru. The lady started wailing which attracted the residents to the scene. The officers realizing they had shot and killed an innocent person, fled to their post which is about 500 meters from the scene of the incident. Police from Makongeni arrived and took away the body. Dennis and his girlfriend joined the college a month ago. His father, Bernard Simba, who works with the Ministry of Industrialisation in Malindi, said he got news of his son’s death from a policeman at Makongeni police station. Simba demanded the Inspector General David Kimaiyo to arrest and charge the two policemen responsible for his son’s death. Yesterday, Thika Deputy police boss Caleb Wesa said the police had shot at the couple because they suspected them to be ‘criminals’. He claimed that Dennis and his girls friend refused to identify themselves and ‘surrender’ when asked to do so by the police and that is when they were shot. Wesa could not explain why the police would shoot the unarmed Dennis in the ribs multiple times if their intention was to stop him and his girlfriend from driving off. Reports that the two APs were immediately transferredhave been denied by the Central province AP boss Joseph Keittany who said the two are off-duty as he investigates what happened. “We cannot establish who actually killed the young man. We cannot certainly say he was murdered by my officers,”Keittany said. The Thika police boss Paul Leting said Dennis was shot dead by  ‘unknown people’ and not the policemen. However, his boss, the central provincial police boss Larry Kieng said an inquiry had been opened to establish the circumstances that led to the killing. “I can assure you that the matter will be investigated and if the policeman is found guilty action will be taken against him.” He confirmed that no disciplinary action had been taken against the two policemen. They have not been questioned or even put on suspension pending the outcome of the investigations. Dennis’ body was taken to the Bishop Okoye Hospital mortuary. His mother’s car which he was driving at the time of the incident, has been impounded and is now at the Thika police station. Thika MP Alice Ng’ang’a condemned the killing saying the two teen lovers posed no danger to the policemen who were armed. “They must be brought to book,” she said. Yesterday’s incident comes ten days after June 7 incident where yet another administration policeman shot and killed a Kenyatta University Engineer graduate Vincent Kiplang’at as he was leaving a ‘freshers’ party. His killer is yet to be arrested and charged. – the-star.co.ke