Southern Sudanese boy slain in a Nairobi Estate, Eyes gouged and teeth removed

This morning the Government of Southern Sudan Liaison office to Kenya received a telephone call from a Sudanese elder called Mr. Mading, reporting that a six year old Southern Sudanese boy Emmanuel Agwer Ater was found dead behind his grandmother´s residence on the bank of a stream at Komarock Estate on the outskirt of Nairobi.

The late Emmanuel Agwer´s poster which was displayed before his body was discovered on the rear gate of his grandmother´s house in Komarock Estate in Nairobi, Kenya. The body of Emmanuel was found dumped in the morning of September 13th and was badly mutilated; his eyes were gouged, jaw cut off, teeth removed and tongue chopped
The Head of Mission Mr. John Andruga Duku who was concerned upon receiving this message immediately asked Information/ Publication officer to dash to the scene in order to establish what exactly happened in Komarock. The office vehicle was availed for this mission and the information officer was in the company of GOSS Accountant, Barnaba Bol while Madhel Abuluk had already gone ahead to the Estate.
We arrived at the scene and found a crowd of people standing on the bank of the stream and we were shown the spot where the body was discovered. We spoke to some of the relatives of the decease who were standing in disbelieve and could not comprehend the motive surrounding the killing of an innocent child in such a painful scenario. They were shocked because the eyes of the boy were gouged; teeth removed, jaw plucked out, forehead skin removed and tongue chopped.    

The family members and neighbors stand in disbelieve at the spot where Emmanuel body was discovered in the morning of Monday, Septemrber 13th 2009.

A relative narrated to us that the slain boy was a standard one pupil at New Light Junior Academy in Komorack.  He returned home from school in the afternoon at 4.00pm on Thursday, September 10th 2009, entered his parent´s house, changed his uniform, had a cup of tea and walked to play with his neighbors´ kids before eventually walked to his grandmother´s house which is a short distant from his mother´s residence.
The boy was in the grandmother´s house until 6.00 pm when the house girl at the parent´s house thought it was late for the young boy to play out until such a time so she decided to come out to look for him. The housemate got the friends playing but Emmanuel was not among them. Thereafter, the relative rushed to ascertain his whereabouts from the grandmother´s house but the housemate there reported that the boy had left the house at around 6.00pm. Unfortunately, he could not make it to his mother´s house and disappeared mysteriously.
The same day in the evening after the search to establish his whereabouts was futile, the family members reported the matter to Kayole Police Station. There was no feedback from the police on the second day. On September 11th the family had to call the media to follow the situation and most local television channels aired the news of the disappearance of the boy in the evening.
The poster which was circulated around when he went missing had all the details of the parents appealing to anyone who come across the boy to call them on the contacts indicated. Some strange SMS were received by the relatives of the boy telling them they were holding Emmanuel but demanded Ksh 5,000 to allow the family speaks to him. Another caller also said they were holding the boy and that they wanted them to meet and the spot for meeting was described but when an uncle of the boy went there, he telephoned but the stanger could not answer his call and instead hang up the phone.

Here is the text message which came from a Stanger whose number is 0718587657:
"Come to section, between Mkokoa and Mvunvege court and pick your boy. Send Ksh5, 000 now if you want to talk to Emmanuel text to this number when you reach there, SMS us now."
This text message was on September 12th 2009 at 1:15pm. The uncle of the boy Marial Agwech replied him and the communication continued for a while but stopped when the guy put off his phone.
The spot where his disfigured body was discovered this morning is a busy area where people walk fluently. There was no sign of a slain body until this morning when a woman who was jogging along that road at 7.00am found the body of the boy on the nearby grass and reported the matter to the guards who alerted the family for identification. The family indeed discovered that it was their lost boy Emmanuel Agwer Ater.
The abductors placed a stone on the poster near his body and left. The family wondered how that could be possible that the boy was killed adjacent to the rear gate of his grandmother´s house when the place was thoroughly searched all the four days since he disappeared. 


This is a vehicle of Kenya Police from SOWETO division which collected the mutilated body of Emmanuel Agwer Ater from the scene where the abductors dumped him 
Kayole Police came to the scene and collected the body to the police station. We followed and spoke to the OCPD Mr. Shadrack Maithya who cooperated with us and equally shocked on why the assassins killed such a young boy in a brutal act. When we asked whether he had received a similar incident in the past during which decease´s eyes were mutilated, the OCPD said he was only one month old in the station and had not been briefed on whether there were similar occurrences in the estate.
He referred us to the officer in charge of investigation called Mr. Kurui telephone number 0723565754. He told us he was sorry and went further that the murder of the boy could have been caused by people revenging on the killing of Kenyans in Southern Sudan. We quickly answered him that there is no orchestrated killing of Kenyans in Southern Sudan and that Kenyans are enjoying good relationship with the people of Southern Sudan who regard Kenya as second home. The officer immediately changed his statement and assured us that the investigation to the case will be extradited. He asked whether the GOSS will meet the charges of postmortem exercise. We told him to give details information later and we exchanged contacts. The Police therefore allowed us to take photographs of the boy from the pick-up.

This is a stream behind Emmanuel´s grandmother´s house where the body was discovered at dawn on September 13th by a woman jogging along the road.
We returned to the office and reported the matter to the Head of Mission. Shortly, two media houses came to GOSS office, thus KTN and K24 and requested for an interview on the case. The Head of Mission had no objection and spoke to the press on the incident and reiterated that Kenya and Southern Sudan enjoy bilateral relations. The incident could not be termed as a policy of the government of Kenya but an isolated incident where Kenya government will help extradite investigation and bring the culprits to book. He advised Southern Sudanese nationals to be vigilance as security matter does not discriminate where one comes from. 
We found that the slain boy could have been murdered elsewhere and brought this morning to the scenery near the grandmother´s residence to confuse the situation.
The boy could have been abducted for ransom and extortion but as the abductors failed to establish facts from him as he was too young to give information of the parents for cash pursuant, they killed him.
There could have been a sinister motive following the gouging of the eyes and removal of the teeth and jaw.
Investigation should go across the board and should involve neighbors and closed friends to the family.

It´s hardly for one to imagine human being mutilating human being for no cause at all. This is painful body of an innocent Emmanuel taken from the Police vehicle soon after the police collected from the scene where he was drawn .

Postmortem and Burial

Postmortem
On September 15th, family members and a member of GOSS waited at the City Mortuary all day long for a postmortem exercise to be conducted. It was finally done by a pathologist called Dr. J. Oduor. The results indicated that Emmanuel Ater died of Head injuries and Blunt trauma. 

Burial
The burial of slain Emmanuel Ater was conducted at Langata Cemetery and it drew a high level representation from the Kenyan Government. The Prime Minister of Kenya Rt Honorable Raila Amollo Odinga sent his Chief of Staff Mr. Caroli Omondi and Mr. Denis Onyango, spokesman of the Prime Minister to attend the burial on his behave.
Speaking to the mourners before the body of Emmanuel was laid to rest; Mr. Omondi hailed the conduct of the Sudanese community in Kenya for acting maturely during the painful killing of Emmanuel Ater.
He said: "I am happy with the way Sudanese community conducted themselves when the brutal killing of the boy occurred. If there was no maturity in handling the case, it could have been misinterpreted, so we regret for the murder of Emmanuel".
The Prime Minister sent his condolences and sympathy to the First Vice President of the Republic of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan H.E. Dr. Salva Kiir Mayardit on the brutal killing of `angel´ Emmanuel Agwer Ater. Mr. Omondi told the mourners that the Prime Minister was perturbed on this situation and vowed to work with the police to extradite investigation for the culprits to be brought to justice.

The Prime Minister donated through his Chief of Staff an amount of One hundred thousand Kenya Shillings (Ksh 100,000) toward funeral arrangements. This added to the same amount donated early to the family by GOSS Liaison office toward funeral arrangement.
Most of the speakers reiterated the commitment of the GOSS in fostering mutual relationship with the government of Kenya. The burial was attended by H.E Ambassador Majok Guandong of Sudan Embassy, Mr. John Andruga Duku, GOSS Head of Mission to Kenya and a number of dignitaries from Sudan Embassy and GOSS Liaison office.    
The late Emmanuel Agwer Ater was the son of Paulino Ater Agwer and Suzan Adit from Bahr El Ghazal, Tuc County.
Let God rest his Soul in Eternal Peace.


Signed 
Jervasio O.Okot
Information/ Publication officer
GOSS Liaison office-Kenya