A policeman attached to the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit in Siaya on Tuesday night lost his gun after he was waylaid by thugs on a motorcycle.
The administration policeman, who had just left the area county commissioner’s residence after finishing his shift, suffered serious cuts on his head and face and was left bleeding profusely along the poorly lit street that hosts, among others, the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Siaya Senator’s offices.
According to a witness, a passerby who lives in one of the flats nearby heard a voice calling for help by the roadside and on moving closer, found the officer in full uniform bleeding profusely.
“She mobilised a watchman from a nearby compound to assist her help the victim as she alerted the police,” said the witness, adding that teams from both the regular and administration police flocked to the area within minutes and took their injured colleague to Siaya County Referral Hospital.
Before being taken to the hospital, said the witness, the officer told them that he was heading towards the town when a motorcycle carrying a man and a woman approached from the opposite direction.
The witness, who did not want to be named for fear of her safety, said that the officer told them that the attackers took him by surprise by knocking a phone off his ear, followed by thorough beating and cuts on his head that sent him sprawling on the thickets by the roadside.
As the officers converged at the scene shortly after 9.00pm to map out strategies of tracing the gangsters and the gun, drama ensued when they pounced on the watchman who had assisted their colleague, beating him senseless while demanding that he produces the weapon.
The watchman, who had gone to open the gate for a resident, was forced to dash back to the compound while shouting for help, as the overzealous policemen hot on his heals with guns cocked while shouting threats.
It took the intervention of the residents, who got out of their houses to answer to the watchman’s distress calls, to have the policemen retreat to the gate.
The residents condemned the police officers’ behaviour, lamenting that it was unfair to subject somebody who had assisted their wounded colleague in such a manner.
They called on both the county and national governments to complete a stalled street lighting project, saying that though the poles were erected more than two years ago, efforts have not been made to fix the lights.
The Siaya County Commissioner, Michael Tialal and the County Police Commander, Francis Kooli confirmed the incident, saying that the gun was yet to be found.
Kooli said that a manhunt for the gang had been launched and called on the residents to help the police trace both the gun and the gang.
By Philip Onyango
