The official newspaper of Leeds University
Police Officer Accused of Murdering Leeds Student in Kenya Goes to Trial
www.thegryphon.co.uk Twitter: @TheGryphonLeeds Instagram: @thegryphon Issue 1 18/10/21
Leeds’ BME Hub Abigail Olalaye stresses the importance of community building and prioritising Black mental health and wellbeing (Page 8-9)
Image: The Guardian
Alex Gibbon Emmanuel Ambunya Oyombe, the police officer accused of murdering former University of Leeds student, Carilton Maina, will go to trial next Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya. Maina was fatally wounded by police on December 21st 2018 in Kibera, one of the poorest areas in Kenya and the largest urban slum in Africa. He had returned to Kenya from the UK to visit his family for Christmas when his life was tragically cut short. At the time of the incident, he was returning home from watching a football match when he was cornered into an alleyway and shot four times. Maina had previously studied an Engineering course in 2016-17 at the University of Leeds and was a straight-A student in High School. He had also previously hosted a TEDx talk in 2016 entitled ‘Poverty’ where he talked about his experience growing up in one of the poorest urban areas in Nairobi, Kenya. The police at the time reported that
they received a call alledging that Maina was part of a gang terrorising and mugging locals. Kilimani police boss Michael Muchiri also claimed that a home-made gun and knife was recovered at the scene. His mother alleged in August 2019 that police placed a gun on Maina’s body in order to frame him, according to an interview with The Guardian, and the family denied the police version of events at the time. Josephine Wangare, Maina’s mother, appeared in court, backed up by a legal team from Amnesty. She said that seeing someone being brought to court to face trial had restored her faith in justice. An inquest was launched by the Independent Police Oversight Authority into Maina’s death due to widespread uproar and protests about the incident. There was widespread international coverage of Maina’s death and the rise of extrajudicial killings by police in Kenya. After the onset of the investigation, the police service tweeted that they
would take on board the IPOA’s findings, stating that “we further wish to assure the public that the Service, just like in similar instances in the past, will enforce the outcome of the investigations that IPOA will recommend”. Emmanuel Ambunya Oyombe, a police officer, was arrested for ending Maina’s life on the 15th April 2020, 18 months after the incident. The accused remained in police custody for seven days in order to undergo a compulsory mental health assessment. He was then released on a KSh600,000 bail on April 23rd. Oyombe pleaded not guilty. ‘Missing Voices’, a group which focuses on extra judicial killings in Kenya has said that the arrest of Oyombe was “a big milestone in the fight against extra judicial killings and police abuse of power”. The organisation has alleged that in just the first 100 days of this year, the police have been responsible for 49 deaths in Kenya, and that of the 107 civilians killed by the police last year, just 10 Continued on Page 7
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