Kenyan baby dies after being 'beaten by police'
August 15, 2017
A six-month old baby that was beaten by police during a raid on her house in a Kenyan slum died in hospital on Tuesday.
Baby Samantha Pendo had been in a coma since Friday night, after police forced their way into her family's home during a crackdown on protesters in the southwestern city of Kisumu, her father said.
"I have lost my daughter, a short while ago. Let her rest in peace," Joseph Abanja said.
"Why did they have to beat us and injure my innocent angel. We have followed the order by the government to vote and stay home. Why did they have to come after us in our homes," he questioned, referring to the recent election.
Read more: Children among victims of post-election violence in Kenya
Samantha's parents accuse police of firing tear gas into their house, battering down the door, and then attacking the couple with batons. Samantha, who was being cradled in her mother's arms, was left fighting for her life with head injuries.
The government maintains that looters and thugs were the only victims of violence following last week's disputed election. But local media have carried many similar stories of raids on private homes.
In one incident in a Nairobi slum, a nine-year-old girl was shot dead on Saturday as she stood on her family's balcony, hit in the back as police fired shots to disperse protesters in the street below.
On Friday, Kenya's election board announced that President Uhuru Kenyatta had won a second term by a margin of 1.4 million votes. Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, 72, said the elections results were fake and that he actually won.
Read more: Raila Odinga vows not to back down over Kenya election outcome
In response Odinga supporters mounted sporadic protests in Kisumu and the Nairobi slums that are his strongholds. Odinga accused security forces of deliberately beating and killing residents during crackdowns on the protests.
"Our response was lawful and proportionate," Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet told Reuters. "We are investigating (the Pendo case). No sane police officer would hit a child."
Baby Samantha has become a symbol of the bloody crackdown.
"We are not thugs, we are not thieves. We are just a family," her father said, his hands and arms swollen and scraped from the beating he says he received.
aw/rc (AFP, Reuters)