Growing public outrage has sparked forceful demands for a Dutch national, Elwin Ter Horst, to face jail time and deportation after a viral video showed him assaulting police officers inside a police station in Kwale, shortly after being arrested for allegedly attacking his girlfriend in a hotel room.
Police say the suspect, a Dutch national, was taken into custody over multiple offences, including assault, malicious damage to property, and causing a disturbance at the hotel where he was staying.
The footage, which has circulated widely online, depicts an unprecedented level of disrespect that has united Kenyans in calling for the harshest legal consequences.
The video shows the visibly intoxicated man confronting two uniformed officers during his booking at the station. In a deeply humiliating act captured on CCTV, the foreigner is seen hurling insults, pushing furniture, and blowing mucus through his nostrils toward a male officer.
Despite his aggression, the two officers—a male and a female—remain composed as the suspect moves violently around the report office.
According to a police report, the man had been arrested after hotel staff raised an alarm about a violent altercation in one of the rooms, where he allegedly assaulted his partner.
Responding officers found that hotel security had already rescued the woman and rushed her to the hospital with injuries.
The suspect reportedly barricaded himself inside the room, causing damage before eventually surrendering after a tense standoff.
Officers then subdued and arrested him, later recovering a whitish substance suspected to be narcotic drugs during a search.
At the station, the man turned hostile again, attacking officers—a moment that was caught on CCTV. Police sources described him as “highly intoxicated and uncooperative.”
He is expected to face several charges, including assault causing actual bodily harm, malicious damage to property, creating a disturbance, possession of suspected narcotic drugs, and misconduct in a police building. The suspected drugs have been sent to the government chemist for testing.
Authorities have launched a full investigation, stressing that attacking law enforcement officers on duty is a serious offence under Kenyan law.
The incident has since sparked public debate online, with many praising the officers for their restraint in handling the situation despite extreme provocation.
Prominent activist Bonface Mwangi echoed the sentiments of many Kenyans.
“The foreigner captured in this video deserves to be prosecuted, jailed, and then deported,” Mwangi stated.
He however highlighted the perceived double standards in police treatment painting a different picture had it been a Kenyan behaving in similar way.
“I can guarantee that if it had been a Kenyan who dared to do this to an officer, he would have been beaten to death,” he added.
