The family of a man believed to have been killed by his wife after a quarrel has accused police of cover-up and has appealed to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to institute an inquest into the death.
Haggai Simiyu, 32, is alleged to have killed himself using a kitchen knife on November 29 at Land Matope in Chwele town of Bungoma Central sub County after the quarrel.
But the family claim that Simiyu was murdered but detectives failed to carry out proper investigations after allegedly being compromised by the deceased’s wife also the main suspect.
However Bungoma Central Sub County Police Commander David Kandie dismissed the accusations levelled against the police as hearsay arguing the matter had been taken up by the local DCI department.
“The wife recorded a statement with us and the DCI’s office released her but she will be reporting there as we continue with further investigations to unearth the cause of the man’s death,” said Kandie.
According to Kandie, the suspected wife Linet Naliaka reported the matter to Chwele police station where she recorded a statement denying killing her husband. She claimed he killed himself using a kitchen knife.
” We ask the family to give us more information since the only information we have from the deceased’s wife is that her husband came home shouting at the top of his voice and a quarrel ensued after which he took a kitchen knife and killed himself,” Kandie added.
However, according to the deceased’s brother Ben Changalwa, the children confessed having seen their mother stab their father to death before they were warned by their maternal uncles not to disclose any information to the police as doing so could lead to the arrest of their mother.
Kandie claimed that when police officers visited the scene of the crime, the suspect showed them the knife that surprisingly was not blood stained.
The family also wondered why the wife informed her own family 20 km away at Lurende about the death of her husband and completely failed to inform the deceased’s family who reside within Chwele town.
“She showed police officers a knife that was not blood stained and when we asked her why she didn’t alert neighbours about the incident, she didn’t give us a satisfactory answer but said that it was raining heavily and that’s why we handed her over to the DCI for further interrogation, ” Kandie added.
However Changalwa blamed police of covering up the crime saying they secretly took the body to Bungoma County Referral hospital mortuary without notifying any member of the immediate family.
“We were told by the police that our brother had killed himself and when we went to the mortuary we were shocked to discover that police had booked the body as of unknown person. Why did they pick the body without ascertaining from neighbours and the family if they knew what happened,” wondered Changalwa.
He asked the DPP’s office to take up the matter and do thorough investigations to enable the family get justice.
“The postmortem was done in the presence of the family members and the police, and the results showed that he was stabbed to death and not otherwise,” alleged Changalwa.
He said that a copy of the postmortem report was given to the DCI but feared justice will not be dispensed to the family considering the way police have been treating family members over the matter.
The deceased was buried on Saturday, December,7 at Misri area, Khachonge location in Bungoma Central Sub County.
By Wekesa Namasaka and Paul Mwangi
