Boda boda rider shot on the leg, beaten to death by KFS officers in Baringo

Three Kenya Forest Service (KFS) officers from the Narasha Forest Station in Baringo County arrested for assault will on Monday be charged afresh with murder after 26-year-old Augustine Kipng’etich succumbed two days ago to injuries allegedly inflicted on him by the officers, including a gunshot wound.

The three, Robert Ngilimo, Hillary Bett and McDonald Wafula, had on Thursday been charged at the Eldama Ravine Law Courts for attacking boda boda operators who had been sent by a client to fetch fencing posts from the forest.

Kipng’etich’s family, which borders the Narasha Forest, says he had been requested to fetch fencing posts from inside the forest, when they heard a gunshot from a home, and knowing their son had gone there, rushed to find out what had transpired.

The deceased’s father Paul Rotich said: “Aliitwa kwa msituni aende asaidie wengine kazi…mtu ya boda si anaitwa kila mahali…sasa yeye alienda akashikwa…kufika huko napata wametwanga kijana yangu wameua.”

His mother Jane Rotich added: “Kufika huko askari wakatufukuza, nikamwambia sasa unanifukuza si ni heri nione huyu kijana ni mtoto wangu…akaniambia mamaa hatutaki wewe hapa…nikatumia nguvu nikienda wananizuia na bunduki…saa ile nilifika huko nikakuta kijana wangu anataka kukufa.”

By then Kipng’etich had been assaulted and suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg. The officers, in a bid to right their wrongs, rushed the deceased to the Eldama Ravine sub-county hospital.

He was taken to the Nakuru referral hospital after it became evident nothing much could be done for him at the Eldama Ravine facility, and he passed on the next day.

Kipng’etich’s widow Doreen Chebich said: “My husband was a caring person, venye hawa maaskari waliniambia ati tunaezakufa wote…niko na watoto wadogo, what will I do now? I’m still young, only 21 years, we were just growing, nitafanya nini?”

The officers who had on Thursday faced assault charges will on Monday be back in court to face murder charges. The Kenya Forest Service, while acknowledging the incident, says the assault was unwarranted.

Chief Conservator of Forests, Alex Lemarkoko, said: “That is a very unfortunate incident. We do not condone such kind of an incident. We don’t condone that kind of relationship between our rangers, our security personnel and the members of public.”

Kipng’etich’s family wants the full force of the law to be brought to bear on the three rangers.

Marakwest est MP Timothy Toroitich said: “Officers from KFS should never take law into their own hands by attacking, shooting, killing innocent people because the law presumes under article 50 that everybody is innocent until proven guilty.”