Irate protesters in Nanyuki, who took on the streets to demand justice for Julia Njoki who died in police custody after she was arrested at the evening of Saba Saba protests. Photo: Citizen Digital.
Police blocked residents from Likii slum in from accessing Nanyuki Town on Monday as they protested demanding justice for 24-year-old Julia Njoki, who was allegedly tortured to death and died in police custody after arrest during Saba Saba protests.
The irate protesters blocked the main road to Nanyuki Town after erecting barricading and lighting tyres on the road, demanding the arrest of the DCI officer who allegedly hit Njoki to her death, who was in custody for failing to raise KSh 50,000 cash bail for her release.
According to Njoki’s family, she was heading home in the evening on Monday July 7 as Kenyans commemorated historic Saba Saba Day, and was arrested among other protesters, where she spent the night at the police station.
Njoki was later arraigned at Nanyuki Law Courts according to a report by Citizen Digital, where she was charged with malicious damage of property, and held at Nanyuki Women’s Prison remand. She was later taken to hospital after developing complications and succumbed while receiving treatment.
According to earlier reports obtained by the family, she suffered blunt force trauma inflicted on her head with continuous severe beating.
However, National Police Service dismissed allegations that Njoki died in police custody, but clarified that she was admitted at the Nanyuki Women’s Prison on July 8 at 1720 hours with four other women, before she started complaining about dizziness, headache and stomach pains at around 7:00pm.
She was rushed at the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital, where her condition deteriorated on the morning of Wednesday, July 9, and she was referred for a CT scan to Cottage Hospital.
Speaking with The Standard, the deceased father said that her daughter was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and underwent a surgery the next morning before succumbing to the injuries.
Her family is demanding justice to unravel the events surrounding the death of Njoki, as postmortem is scheduled for Tuesday next week.
Her death comes as the country is still coming to terms with the death of X blogger Albert Ojwang’, who was arrested and tortured to death at Central Police Station in Nairobi, after DIG Eliud Lagat file a complaint for defamatory remarks made by the deceased blogger.
