Simon Warui: How missing Nairobi man ended up dead inside Mombasa police station
The family of a 26-year-old Nairobi man who died under mysterious circumstances at Central Police Station, Mombasa, on Thursday night, is demanding justice as Kenyans express outrage over yet another suspicious death in police custody
Police claimed he had fallen while attempting to scale a wall in the cells. But for his family, friends, and rights activists, the explanation does not add up.
Warui had gone missing from Umoja 1, Nairobi, on 14 September 2025. His wife reported him missing at Kamkunji Police Station, sparking a desperate search. Days later, his family was stunned to learn that he had resurfaced nearly 500 kilometres away in Mombasa.
On Wednesday, Warui appeared at the Mombasa Catholic Cathedral Church along Nkurumah Road, confused and disoriented. A nun who met him said he was “not in a normal state of mind.” A security guard who encountered him escorted him to a priest, who offered him food before police and DCI officers arrived.
By Thursday morning, Warui had been booked at Central Police Station, allegedly awaiting transfer back to Nairobi, where he faced accusations of stealing Sh170,000 from an electronic shop he worked in. Hours later, he was dead.
His cousin, Godfrey Gichuru, revealed that Warui, who sold electronic accessories in Ngara, Nairobi, had even managed to call his wife and brother using a strange number from Mombasa, informing them of his location at the Cathedral.
The family rushed to Mombasa, but when they arrived, they were told he had already died and his body had been moved to Coast General Hospital morgue.
“We are now wondering what happened to him while in the police cells,” a distraught Gichuru said.
A post-mortem report from Coast General Hospital revealed shocking details: Warui suffered a fractured neck and bled internally, leading to oxygen deprivation in the brain. T
The medical findings point to cardiorespiratory collapse due to neck fracture dislocation, “consistent with a fall from a height.”
But activists and family members are poking holes in the police version. “We are yet to identify this so-called wall at Central Police. How high is it? If one scales it, do they die instantly after a fall? Where were the officers meant to be manning the cells?” asked Edwin Shamir, a Mombasa youth activist.
Friends say police denied them access to Warui even when they brought him food at the station on Thursday night. “When we came to Mombasa, we knew he was alive. It is not evident if he died by suicide or was murdered, but whatever the case, we need justice,” said his close friend, Daniel Gicheha.
According to a police source, Warui had gone into the washroom after removing his shoes and cap. Moments later, officers heard a thud and found him sprawled on the floor, blood streaming from his nose and mouth. But the family insists this explanation reeks of a cover-up.
Human rights groups, including the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), have joined the chorus of outrage, demanding that police release CCTV footage from the cells.
On social media, Kenyans expressed their fury:
@princemwitiii said, “How do you die in a place where you should feel the safest?”
Sophie Mugure Njehia @MugureNjehia added, “The case of DIG Lagat has now set a precedence for rogue police officers who know they can just beat you to death and nothing will be done to them. Police brutality must end in Kenya and it starts with prosecuting rogue officers.”
@JESSEGITAU88200 fumed, “This is another Ojwang style killing. How high is the wall, especially in a police station? You can’t even break a finger. Why did they take him to the mortuary before @IPOA_KE processed the crime scene? Where are the CCTV footage? This is unacceptable.”
“This family deserves answers, not stories,” a neighbour said, echoing the feelings of many Kenyans.
