John Cheboiwo a university student charged with impersonating Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet died in custody in disputed circumstances. He was also accused of impersonating former Director of Criminal Investigation Ndegwa Muhoro on Facebook, died on June 16.
Confirming the incident, Commissioner of Prisons Isaiah Osuga stated that Cheiboiwo (24) passed away at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) having been in remand for five weeks. His mother Jane Anyango states that she got the information of her sons death two days after it happened. “I was told that the body had been taken to City Mortuary. I went there and found it. The records there indicated ‘sudden death'” she exclaimed.
Prison Authories claimed Cheboiwo fell ill at the Industrial Area remand prison, and later died at the Kenyatta National Hospital, but his family claims he was brutally beaten by a warden on claims of having contraband items in remand. Two postmortem reports have given contradictory findings.
The family was not convinced by the autopsy done at the mortuary and took the body to Chiromo mortuary to have another one done, which revealed what was not recorded in the first one. The government Pathologist Johansen Oduor did an autopsy and said that Cheboiwo’s neck had injuries on the left side,part of his brain was swollen, and there were blood clots on the tips of his fingers.
“It does not add up that a person who collapsed could have signs of strangulation and such injuries,” Anyango added.
The Kenyatta graduate was accused of impersonating Boinnet and Directorate of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro on Facebook in 2016. according to the prosecutors, Cheboiwo used the false Facebook accounts to defraud Kenyans with the promise of fast-tracking investigation.
