A Maseno Police Officer has written to Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome, claiming that her life was in danger.
Police Corporal Georgina Osoro claimed that she is being falsely accused of shooting a Maseno University student during the Azimio la Umoja mass protest.
Osoro, through her lawyer Danstan Omari, wants the IG to provide her with information about her assignment between the 19th and 22nd of March, 2023, during the anti-government demonstrations, so she can take legal action against those who accuse her of shooting the student.
She claims that it has become extremely difficult for her to work or even send her children to school on account of well-founded fears that they shall be harmed.
She claims that her pictures and those of her children have been circulated on social media platforms, along with her phone numbers, putting her at risk of being lynched by the general public.
In her defense, Georgina says she was on duty in Kisumu on March 20 which is 35 KM away from Maseno where the incident took place.
According to the officer, she had no involvement in the fatal shooting of the student.
She claims that a shooting incident, malicious property damage, and police officer injury occurred during an encounter with Maseno University students who barricaded the Maseno-Kisumu-Luanda road.
“As a result of the altercation that arose and in a bid to safeguard properties, lives and in self-defense, one demonstrator was allegedly shot and pronounced dead upon arrival at Coptic Hospital Kisumu,” she claims in the letter.
She claims that on March 21, after the student’s death was reported, baseless allegations were made by various members of the public, maliciously defaming her as the person responsible for the fatal trigger that led to his death.
“In a scathing prejudiced public attack, my character has been immensely attacked, veiled and expressed threats to my life, as well as those of my children which reports, has already made,” the letter reads further.
Osoro requests that the IG provide Certified Extracts from the Occurrence Book and Certified Extracts from the Arms Movement Book Entries for the dates March 19-21.
She also requests a list of Police Officers assigned to cover Kisumu town on Monday, March 20, 2023.
“We have resorted to request the aforementioned information pursuant to Article 35 (1) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 so as to take legal action against perpetrators of the falsehoods and threats against the person of our Client and her children,” she says in the letter.
The officer has requested that the Director of Public Prosecutions direct the Inspector General of Police to conduct an investigation into the incident.
She has also requested that the Independent Police Oversight Authority and the National Police Service’s Internal Affairs Department investigate the incident as soon as possible and consider all exculpatory evidence in order to inform the general public that she was not involved in the alleged fatal shooting.
She has also attached several annexures detailing the trolling and threats she has been receiving on Facebook and even on her personal number through WhatsApp messages.
William Mayange, a third-year student, was shot dead in Kisumu’s Maseno area during the anti-government protests.
Police said that the students overpowered security officers, who had run out of teargas canisters and were forced to fire live bullets to disperse the crowds when Mayange was hit by a stray bullet.
Mayange was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Coptic hospital where he had been rushed.
