When 14-year-old Grade 6 pupil Dennis Ringa met with his mother, Nancy Mbaka, during New Year celebrations in Utange, Mombasa County, neither of them knew it would be the last time they see each other.
Ms Mbaka says she was shocked to later learn that her son, who had just sat the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and was eagerly waiting to join school, had allegedly been shot by police.
“I am in pain after losing my child, who was simply celebrating the New Year. I had seen him shortly after midnight before going home to rest because I was tired from work. Later, people came to inform me that my son had been shot. What had he done?” wonders Ms Mbaka.
According to Steve Dena, a neighbour who says he witnessed the incident, he heard a gunshot that prompted him to come out of his house.
“I saw a man outside. I could see him shooting at someone, though I could not tell who it was because his hand was partly blocking my view. It's painful because I later learned it was my friend’s son. I found him lying there in the rain,” said Mr Dena.
Michael Charo, the boy’s stepfather, said the loss is an injustice.
He explained that the teen was caught off-guard because he had fallen asleep. He was among six boys resting outside after New Year celebrations died down. The other boys spotted two men—one in uniform and one not—arriving on a motorcycle and, in a panic, ran away, leaving him behind.
“He had been spending a lot of time on TikTok lately which left him sleep-deprived. When his older brother called him to follow after the police arrived, he was still struggling to wake up. That's when he was shot by the man in uniform,” he said.
The police declined to comment on the incident, noting that the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) had already taken up the case and that investigations are underway.
