Four-Year-Old Girl Hospitalized After Being Shot During Karatina Protests

In a recent protest in Karatina, Nyeri County, a four-year-old girl was among more than 20 people who were shot and injured.

The police reported that five officers were injured, and two of their vehicles had their windows shattered.

Those admitted to Karatina Hospital after being shot by the police include Ivana Gathigia (four years old), Eric Waigwa (23), Brian Mwangi (28), Sarah Githinji (52), Baxton Mwangi (35), Kelvin Gicheru (19), and Cynthia Mera (19).

Another injured person, Wycliffe Thiong’o (25), a local hairdresser, was transferred to Kenyatta Hospital for further treatment.

Confirmed report from the hospital on Saturday indicate that , some of the victims still had bullets in their bodies as they awaited surgery. Ivana, 4, had a bandage on her right arm, and an X-ray revealed that a foreign object was still lodged in her arm.

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Her mother, Eunice Githiga, had picked her up from a daycare center and was walking home when police began firing shots indiscriminately. In the chaos, Ivana slipped from her mother’s grasp and was hit by a bullet that ricocheted off a wall before striking her.

Githiga recounted how she fainted, thinking her daughter had died after being struck. She later regained consciousness and learned from a friend that Ivana had been rushed to the hospital and was being treated.

“It’s by God’s grace that she is still alive, as the situation could have been much worse if the bullet had hit her directly. I don’t think the police were targeting her, but what happened was terrifying for both me and my daughter,” she said.

Other victims shared their experiences of being shot, denying that they were participating in the protests. Two victims are in critical condition due to injuries to their abdomen and chest. Others sustained leg injuries from police gunfire during the protests.

Nyeri County’s Director of Medical Services, Dr. Nelson Muriu, said that the health department had dispatched medical staff to care for those with gunshot wounds.

Mathira East Police Commander Samson Leweri, who was also injured while confronting the protesters, stated that five of his colleagues were injured after being pelted with stones.

The shooting of protesters occurred just a week after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua ordered security forces to end the protests in his political stronghold. From 2017 to 2022, Gachagua served as the Member of Parliament for Mathira, where the town of Karatina is located.