Ziporah Muteti, mother to a one-and-a-half-year-old child, Alex Mutunga who died in a Police cell in Kambu 2024 testifying in a Makueni County on April 14, 2026. Photo Courtesy. 
By Andrew Mbuva.
The High Court in Makueni has heard disturbing testimony in the ongoing case against former Kambu Police Station officer Cyrus Nyakundi, who is accused of the unlawful killing of a one-and-a-half-year-old child, Alex Mutunga.
During proceedings before Justice Peter Gesora, the child’s mother, Ziporah Muteti, gave an emotional account of the events leading to her son’s death while in police custody in 2024.
Muteti told the court that she was arrested over a debt of KSh 465 and taken to Kambu Police Station alongside her young child. She alleged that during the arrest, the officer repeatedly slapped her, with some of the blows striking the child and causing him to fall.
Despite the child showing signs of distress, Muteti testified that both she and her son were locked in a police cell. She recounted that they remained in custody until about 8:00 p.m., even as the child’s condition worsened.
According to her testimony, by the time police officers removed them from the cell, the child had already died. In a chilling claim, Muteti further told the court that officers instructed her to carry her son’s lifeless body to the mortuary at Kambu Hospital.
The case, which has drawn public attention due to allegations of police brutality, centers on the circumstances surrounding the child’s death and the conduct of the officers involved.
However, the defense team, led by lawyer Onyanchа Thomas Geoffrey, sought to cast doubt on the mother’s account. The defense questioned how Muteti escaped without visible injuries despite her claims of assault, while the child allegedly sustained fatal harm. They also suggested there may have been underlying tensions between Muteti and her children, as well as prior hostility between her and the police.
The court is expected to hear from more than 20 defense witnesses as the trial progresses.
The case has been adjourned and will resume on June 29, and July 6 and 7, as the court continues to unravel the events surrounding the tragic death of the toddler in police custody.
