Mother finds body of missing son two days after Kenya’s Ebola quarantine centre protests
News
The mother of teenager Sylvester Muigai Ndung’u found his body in a mortuary in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki two days after he went missing.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find upsetting.
The 17-year-old was killed on Tuesday in clashes between police and demonstrators during a protest over a US plan to build an Ebola quarantine centre at a nearby military base.
Details
Lucy Kagure had been searching for her son in hospitals and police stations and eventually discovered his body at the mortuary, where he was listed as an unidentified male.
“When I found him, half of his head had been split open. His clothes were soaked in blood,” she told the BBC.
Witnesses said Muigai had been shot in the head, but a local police commander, Daniel Kitavi, told the BBC that the authorities were still waiting for a post-mortem to determine the cause of death.
Analysis
Family members say police officers suggested he may have been killed by a tear-gas canister rather than a bullet.
Kagure said her son had left home on Tuesday to collect his school uniform from his aunt when he got caught up in the unrest.
“The police used too much force,” she said through tears. “Are they not parents too?
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