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Woman deported after shocking photos in city police cell go viral – PHOTOS

December 14th, 2016 1 min read

Three young children who were detained together with their mother for three weeks at the Buruburu police station were finally deported on Wednesday.

The minors and their mother, plus eleven Ethiopians, had been charged with being in the country illegally and were detained at the station pending deportation.

The Ethiopians are however still in custody.

There are no children cells at the Buruburu police station and for the three weeks, the three children – two girls and a boy aged 15, 9, and 6 respectively – were detained with their mother in the adult cells.

PHOTO | COURTESY
PHOTO | COURTESY

The law does not allow children to be locked in the same cells with adults, and the prolonged detention at the crowded facility exposed the children to increased risk of abuse and ill-treatment.

Women should be separated from men, and minors from adults but most stations do not have such facilities.

Officers from the Immigration Department deported the woman and her children a day after they denied knowledge of their detention.

VIRAL PHOTOS

Even after the photos of the woman plus the children in custody went viral on social media, the police and the Immigration department continued playing a blame game.

PHOTO | COURTESY
PHOTO | COURTESY

On Tuesday, detectives from the Investigations Department at Nyayo House told Nation that they were not aware of the case, while the police  insisted that the matter was being handled by immigration.

The case, according to records, was being investigated by a Mr Kavoi based on the 7th floor, Nyayo House.

The woman, who has stayed in the country for over four years, was allegedly arrested in Kiambu for being in the country illegally.

She was charged at the Thika Law courts and the court ordered that she be deported immediately. She was taken to Industrial Area but was later transferred to Buruburu.