Mbodze Nyamawi was taking her meal outside her small house in Kazamoyo, Kinango constituency in Kwale county when her son rushed to her from the house in panic mode.
“They have taken Nyae! They are going with him! Where are they taking him?” the son shouted.
It was on Friday, September 15 at around 9am.
Little did Nyamawi know it would be the last day he would ever see her 23-year-old son, Jacob Nyae, alive.
“He was having his usual heavy meal because the whole day he would be busy looking for odd jobs. The man, dressed in police combat, was frog-matching Nyae.
“I enquired but he was quiet as he walked with Nyae. Even Nyae stopped protesting and just went with him,” Nyamwai told Independent Medico-Legal Unit officials at her house.
According to IMLU, police officers hired to guard the sisal farm owned by one of the wealthy families in Mombasa, have ‘camps’ set up in different parts of the plantation.
Nyamawi said her son was locked inside one of the rooms and two people started beating him up.
“They beat up from around 9.30am to around 11am, when they released him. By this time, my son had even stopped pleading with the two officers beating him up,” she narrated.
Her pleas to the officers had long fallen on deaf ears and she had left her and her son’s fate to God.
Upon release, Nyamawi had to carry her on her back because he could not walk.
He was bleeding from the head, back, hands and the leg.
IMLU said mother and son got home and little brother was sent to seek help but they too were allegedly accosted by more security officers. They did not get the help they wanted.
“Nyamawi then called the sub-chief and came with the village chairman to their homestead on a motorbike.
“They two carried Nyae on the motorbike taking him to hospital but unfortunately, he died on the way. So they called the Taru police station and officers came to pick up the body,” IMLU said.
Haki Yetu legal officer Munira Ali said Nyae was part of protestors on July 27 against the owner of the sisal farm who has been meaning to expand the land he owns.
The farm is vast but there are settlements inside the farm where residents say they have been living since the 1970s.
According to Ali, Nyae was one of the most vocal protestors.
“It seems they had earmarked him and he was a wanted man,” she told the Star at their office together with IMLU officials on Friday.
Haki Yetu, IMLU, the Independent Police Oversight Authority and the Taru DCI are all investigating the case.
Police say they have recorded statements from officers alleged to have been involved in Nyae’s beating.
Nyae’s father Ngala Chamtu on Sunday told the Star he wanted justice for his son.
The truck driver was in Mombasa, where he is based, when he got a call at around 10.30am that fateful Friday.
“Why did they have to kill my son? Is it illegal to picket and protest? Why are we treated as lesser Kenyans than others?” protested Chamtu.
He said he just secured the truck driving job he is currently doing less than three months ago and had plans to introduce his son into the truck driving career.
Nyae was buried on Wednesday after a post-mortem was done.
The Star had yet to get the post-mortem report by the time of going to press.
IPOA was to return to Chamtu’s homestead on Sunday and Monday for further investigations.