West Hills Mall incident: Lawyers list four actions if police fail to conduct further investigations

FX Law and Associates, lawyers for the family of Shadrach Arloo who died at the West Hills Mall during a police arrest has rejected the official cause of his death established through a police investigation.

The lawyers have thus issued a seven-day ultimatum to the police to conduct an expansive investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of the deceased failure of which some four key actions will be taken.

According to the lawyers, the conclusion by the police that the deceased died from asphyxiation and obstruction of the airway by a foreign body as established through a post-mortem is inconclusive.

“The verbal cause of death given by the Police pathologist as Asphyxiation and obstruction of the airway by a foreign body is inconclusive and cannot be relied on as the only cause of death of the deceased without carefully analysing and investigating all the events that led to the demise of the deceased. We demand for the full detailed autopsy report as a matter of urgency,” the lawyers said in a statement dated February 8, 2023.

The lawyers on the instructions of their clients say they will petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for an investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of the deceased following the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum to the police.

Also, they will call for the immediate resignation of the inspector general of police for the failure of the police to protect the life of the deceased in lawful custody.

In addition, the lawyers say they will petition the president to cause the removal of the IGP if he fails to resign and finally institute a human rights action at the High Court for declarations against the conduct of the arresting officers.

According to a police statement issued on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, to update the public on investigations into the death of the 32-year-old, doctors who conducted forensic examination of his body retrieved 8 bags of narcotics from the throat of the deceased.

“The pathologist gave the verbal cause of death as Asphyxiation and Obstruction of the airway by a foreign body. He also retrieved from the throat of the deceased, eight (8) zipped bags containing dry leaves suspected to be narcotic drugs tied in a piece of black polythene. The retrieved suspected narcotic substances tested positive for cannabis when submitted for forensic examination, in the presence of all the interested parties,” police said.

But reacting to the police statement, the law firm led by the Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency, Francis Xavier-Sosu observed that the police rather seem bent on covering up for the actions of its officers which likely caused the death.

Read the full statement by the law firm below:



GA/SARA