Kenyan Policeman Arrested over Murder of Leeds University Student Carilton Maina

A police officer attached to Kenyatta National Hospital has been arrested in connection with the murder of Carilton David Maina, a Kenyan University of Leeds student who was shot dead in Kibra, Nairobi in December 2018.

Police constable Emmanuel Ambunya Oyombe was apprehended on Thursday by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). 

His arrest comes after the completion of an inquest into the death of the 23-year-old student.

Maina, who was on a long holiday, had returned to the country to visit his family and was allegedly shot dead by police despite having surrendered.

Residents said the electronic and communication engineering student had gone to a nearby joint to watch football when he met his death.

"Carliton had just come for the December holidays then go back to the UK in January. If not for his life being ended by a bullet from a rogue police.”

“Carilton had just come from watching a football match at the nearest movie shop, being a fanatic football fan and as a matter of fact a goalkeeper for his local side FC Interdjinamory from Kenyatta Hospital Estate," a resident, Collins Onyango said in 2018.

Due to his love for football, Maina received a scholarship at the UK university after completing his high school education at Maseno School in 2013 where he emerged with an A plain.

While police said the student was part of a gang that was terrorizing Line Saba residents, his family and residents maintained Maina was not a criminal, terming the case as an extrajudicial killing.

"The police received a call from the members of the public who said that they were being mugged by a group of youths. It is then that the police acted and shot one on the spot," Kilimani OCPD Michael Muchiri said at the time.

Constable Oyombe was on Thursday arraigned before High Court judge Ngenye Macharia to face murder charges.

He did not take a plea and will remain in police custody for seven days pending a mental assessment at Mathare Hospital. The case will be mentioned on April 23rd, 2020.