The murder of Kenyan baby Samantha Pendo, police brutality, and the long wait for justice.

Seven years after their daughter was killed in a brutal police midnight operation in Kenya amid post-election tensions, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng have reopened the case against the officers involved. After being postponed for a while, I am still overcome with emotion. .

“It’s a scar that never goes away,” Achieng, a hotel worker, told the BBC of the death of six-month-old Samantha Pendo, who died from a fractured skull and internal bleeding.

Every time there’s a delay or little development, the couple is inundated with phone calls. Every moment of anticipation leads to disappointment in the pursuit of justice.

The family lives in the western city of Kisumu. It is an opposition stronghold where riots broke out in August 2017 amid anger over election results that were eventually rerun due to fraud.

Their small house was on a roadside in the Nyalenda informal settlement, which saw protests on August 11 with riot police deployed.

That night, the couple locked the wooden door and barricaded themselves with furniture. Around midnight, they heard a neighbor’s door being broken down and some of the residents being beaten.

Soon after, the police arrived in front of the house.

“They knocked and kicked it several times, but I didn’t open it,” Mr Abanza told the BBC, adding that he had pleaded for the lives of his four family members.

However, the beatings continued and the police found a small space and threw tear gas into a single room, forcing the family out.

Mr Abanja said the beatings began after he was ordered to lie down outside the door.

“They tried to go for my head so I raised my hand and they hit my hand until they couldn’t hold it anymore.”

His wife was not spared either, as she came out of the house holding Samantha, who was having trouble breathing due to the tear gas.

“They beat me (with clubs) while I was holding my daughter,” said Achieng.

The next thing he felt was that his daughter was hugging him ‘as if she was in pain.’

“I sent her away and what came out of her mouth? It was foam.”

She screamed that they had killed her daughter, at which point the beatings stopped and Mr Abanja was ordered to administer first aid.

The baby arrived but was badly injured.

The couple said officers left quickly and neighbors helped take Samantha to hospital. She died after three days in intensive care.

Their quest for justice, like that of dozens of others caught up in post-vote violence, was long and frustrating.

Twelve police officers are expected to be charged with murder, rape and torture, but a hearing has not yet been held to ask them to appeal.

Willys Otieno, one of the victims’ lawyers, believes the delay is due to a lack of political will to bring justice to victims of election violence.

Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election in late 2017 and the opposition candidate withdrew from the race. His deputy, William Ruto, who was later eliminated as well, won the next vote and took office in September 2022.

“The state is no longer interested in prosecuting the perpetrators (and) it is now left to us, the victims’ lawyers, to work with non-governmental organizations and human rights groups to register charges and put pressure on the accused. People must be brought to justice.” “Mr Otieno told the BBC.

He criticized the current Director of Public Prosecutions for “acting like the defendant’s lawyer.”

Regarding the two failed plea attempts last October and November, the lawyer said, “It is the DPP, not the defendant, who applied to the court for a postponement. We applied to the court to postpone the plea.”

The third attempt was originally scheduled to take place two days ago, but was postponed due to the presiding judge’s move and rescheduled for later this month.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) told the BBC it could not process a request for comment, but told “The result of police brutality amidst the unrest following the 2017 presidential election.”

But people involved in the case believe delays are a problem.

“It was the DPP’s office that started this case and it was they who contacted us a few years ago. They asked us to join a victim support group that was essentially set up to secure witnesses for their case. Amnesty International Kenya Irungu Houghton, head of human rights group Amnesty International Kenya, told the BBC:

After an initial inquiry, the then DPP, Nurdin’ Hajji, launched a public inquiry into baby Samantha’s death. The judge acknowledged the police’s negligence.

Prosecutors later ordered additional investigations into other incidents resulting from police operations in August 2017, involving independent constitutional investigators, civil society, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The investigation found evidence that the DPP said indicated “systematic violence against civilians, including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, all of which constitute serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity.”

In October 2022, prosecutors sought to charge a suspect under international crimes law for the first time in Kenya’s history.

The charges include a commander who is deemed responsible because of his responsibilities as a senior officer, a first for Kenya.

A new DPP, Renson M Ingonga, took office in September 2023, but there has been little movement since then.

“There appears to be no desire to prosecute this case,” Mr. Horton said.

Mr. Otieno said victims’ lawyers may consider seeking justice through private prosecutions or going to the East African Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court (ICC) if delays continue.

Kisumu governor and opposition leader Peter Anyango’ Nyong’o has now appealed to the Chief Justice to deal with the matter and “immediately find out if someone or a group of people is sabotaging this case to protect some people”. I did it.

Otherwise, he agrees, the ICC has a long way to go. “Justice delayed is justice denied, so if the local court continues to adjourn the case, we may have to write to the ICC to move in.”

Samantha’s parents support this idea, saying there can be no healing without justice. Every time they postpone, their wounds reopen.

“It doesn’t matter what I do, but I will make sure justice is served,” said Mr Abanja, now 40 and making a living as a tuk-tuk taxi driver.

“Because they took something so precious to me. She meant everything to me, that little girl I named after my mom.”