Written By Mary Mumbua 📝
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) will conduct a second post-mortem examination on the body of nominated MP David Sankok’s son on Friday in Nakuru.
The DCI will enlist the help of a forensic expert in the investigation, which will be overseen by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor at the Umash Funeral Home, where Hillary Memusi Sankok, 15, is being kept.
Yesterday, a team from the DCI’s Nairobi headquarters spent the better part of the day at the MP’s home and hotel, attempting to corroborate circumstantial evidence gathered from scene of crime personnel and key witnesses who have been quizzed since the boy’s death on Monday last week.
This comes as they await the results of a ballistics examination on two weapons owned by the legislator.
The student was supposed to be buried Tuesday 10th, but DCI chief George Kinoti ordered the second autopsy after it was discovered that witness accounts were inconsistent, the spent cartridge was missing, and a forensic pathologist had not been present during the first post-mortem examination on May 3 at Longisa Hospital in Bomet County.
The first inspection confirmed that Memusi perished as a result of a single bullet that entered through his chin and exited through the left top of his skull.
Yesterday, Narok County DCI boss Mwenda Ethaiba confirmed that the second post-mortem exam would be conducted on Friday by a team of various experts.
“This very necessary exercise will give a conclusive report about the death and then we can allow the family to go ahead with the burial arrangements,” Mr Ethaiba said, adding that some key details had been left out in the first post-mortem exam.
Detectives attempt to analyze gunshot wound forensic pathology by observing the cavity, surrounding skin or the injury tract, the direction and angle the bullet took, and the projectile.
They will ponder on the source and manner of the damage, entry and exit features, fire distance and direction, and wound vitality.
“If the victim indeed took his own life, his arms will have debris, as usually, when the trigger is pulled, residue comes out from the ejector and remains on the palm,” an investigator said.
Detectives on the case are optimistic that the results of the ballistic examination on the shotgun alleged to have been used, and another firearm — a Ceska that the MP owns and which was in his possession — will have been concluded.
The examination on the firearms will also establish which one discharged the bullet that took the minor’s life.
This way, the detectives and forensic experts will be in a position to corroborate the results of the ballistics with what they discover from the forensic pathology and the accounts of the 13 people who have so far been interrogated, including the MP, his wife Hellen, their daughter and son, and several employees.
Police have conducted the interrogations more than seven times and even conducted a scene re-enactment on Saturday.
Sources at the DCI headquarters said they were also conducting victimology to establish the profile of the boy.
Some of the things they would want to establish are whether the boy had initially handled a gun and if he fits a suicide profile.
Apart from establishing the legality of the guns, Mr Ethaiba had earlier said that the investigators were also probing the possibility of the gun having been kept unsafely, against the law.
The Firearms Act stipulates that every registered firearm holder should maintain a suitable enclosed store for the safe custody of firearms and ammunition in his possession.
It also states that the licensed owner of a firearm should ensure that the weapon is not lost or stolen and is not at any time available to any person not lawfully entitled to possess it.
Those who fail to comply with the law are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding Sh10,000 or to both, states the law.
“When the gun is not with the licensed holder, then it should be under lock and key in the safe. Even if the couple is living in the same bedroom and one of them is licensed the other is prohibited from accessing it,” said Mr Mwenda.
