This archive report was first published on 11 July 2021.
On July 11, 2021, a 30-year-old man, Robert Mureithi, died in police custody at the Pangani Police Station. He had been held in the cells since July 9, 2021, after failing to raise a Sh200 fine imposed on him at the Makadara Law Courts.
According to Starehe police boss Julius Kiragu, Mureithi was arrested last week for breaking curfew rules. He appeared in court for a virtual session at Makadara Law Courts on Friday, July 9, 2021, and was returned to the station. The officer commanding the station checked on the inmates at 7am on July 11, 2021, and found Mureithi had collapsed. He then notified the doctors, but when they arrived, he was already dead.
Contrary to earlier reports, there was no scuffle in the station, and no inmates were injured. Kiragu stated that the station has an officer on night duty who keeps checking all the activities in the cells.
Mureithi's body has been taken to the City Mortuary for postmortem to ascertain the cause of his death and start the process of tracing his family.
