Police officer Duncan Ndiema Ndiwah to be arrested over killing of 13yr-old Yassin Moyo

The Director of Public Prosecutions has approved the arrest and prosecution of a police officer, Duncan Ndiema Ndiwah.



This he said is in connection with the fatal shooting of Yasin Moyo at the balcony of his home in Huruma, Nairobi on 30 March this year.



On the fateful day, the 13-year-old had been curiously watching police patrol the streets with his mother and siblings.



A coronavirus-related curfew had just started when a stray bullet struck him in the stomach.



His father, Hussein Moyo Molte, was at a nearby friend’s place watching the news and recounted hearing gunshots moments before his daughter called to tell him:



“Yassin’s been shot, we were on the balcony, the police had a torch on us and then they fired shots.”



Moyo rushed home to find the neighborhood engulfed in teargas.



Yassin Moyo’s relatives cry during his burial on 31 March 2020. PHOTO/COURTESY



Neighbors drove young Yassin Moyo to a Nairobi hospital but he later succumbed to his injuries.



“My child was shot on the balcony at home, he wasn’t even on the street,” his father said. “I support the curfew but how the policeman handled it was very wrong.”



Kenya’s dusk-to-dawn curfew went into effect nationwide on March 27 in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.



On Tuesday, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority revealed that 15 Kenyan have been killed by police officers since 27 March.



“After preliminary investigations, fifteen (15) deaths and thirty-one (31) incidents where victims sustained injuries have directly been linked to actions of police officers during the curfew enforcement,” the IPOA statement reads.



Yassin Moyo’s relatives and friends during his burial at the Kariokor Muslim Cemetery in Nairobi, Kenya on 31 March 2020. PHOTO/COURTESY



Further, IPOA has dispatched Rapid Response teams to establish the circumstances that led to six other fatalities in the latest incidents.



About 87 complaints which include deaths, shootings, harassment, assaults resulting to serious injuries, robbery, inhuman treatment and sexual assault are currently being investigated by the Authority.



Human rights group Amnesty International told CNN it has documented 16 people killed by police officers since the curfew started.



“Excessive use of force further terrorizes a public that is already anxious and fearful,” said Amnesty International’s Kenya director, Irungu Houghton.



Houghton believes violent enforcement of the curfew damages public trust in the police and could hurt efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.



On 1 April, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a public apology for the excessive use of force by police.



Yassin’s traumatized family however said an apology will not bring their son back.



His mother Hadija Abdullahi Hussein told CNN: “Everyone is home but no one is talking. He used to be the one who brought all the life into the house.”