Investigations into the “suicide” of Nominated MP David Sankok’s teen son have narrowed down on determining the exact firearm used, after it emerged the lawmaker has two guns and not one, as previously thought.
Last evening, detectives visited the MP’s home in Narok to record another statement from Mr Sankok, following inconsistencies in the initial report by the family. Ten people have recorded statements.
Experts at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Forensic Lab were last evening still trying to figure out whether a pistol or a shotgun ended Memusi Sankok’s life on Monday.
This is as officers from the Homicide Department were dispatched to Narok to help their local counterparts in piecing up the last moments of the 15-year-old, who had reportedly differed with his father about returning to school.
A post-mortem conducted at Longisa District Hospital on Tuesday has confirmed that the child’s death was caused by a bullet that entered through his chin and exited at the top of his head.
Investigations have, however, found a number of inconsistencies, forcing them to consider recording another round of interrogations.
Matters have been complicated by the fact that the officers who responded to the shooting did not collect any spent cartridge from the scene. The Kericho High School student is said to have shot himself in his parents’ bedroom.
“Unlike other rifles, a shotgun releases pellets. No bullet or cartridge was found,” Narok County DCI boss Mwenda Ethaiba said yesterday, promising to issue a more comprehensive statement about today.
Shotguns are typically used to hit targets at short distances and are designed to fire batches of small projectiles instead of single bullets with a pull of the trigger. Unlike bullets, these projectiles are not aerodynamic and cannot travel long distances.
A shotgun, like all firearms, releases a spent cartridge after a shot is fired. Since police did not collect a cartridge from the room, questions have been raised on whether the scene was cleaned or tampered with.
According to preliminary investigations based on recollections by Mr Sankok’s family, the first person to notice that the boy was dead was his younger brother, who notified their elder sister. Ms Rosemary Sankok, 21 then informed their mother.
“My little brother and I went to pick fruits at Osim hotel and also bought some ice cream on our way back. I also bought for him (Memusi) ice cream,” she recalled.
“When we came back, I gave the ice cream to my small brother to take to him because I was packing to go back to school. When my brother went to the room, he found his body and came back to tell me to follow him and see for myself.”
According to Ms Sankok, they had left for only 10 minutes before returning to the house and the only person who was home then was Memusi.
She said none of them heard the gunshot from the family’s Osim Country Lodge, which is separated from the house by the Ewaso Ngiro–Maji Moto road.
The MP was at Osim, showing workers where to instal security cameras.
Mr Sankok, his wife Hellen, their eldest daughter and the workers at Osim have recorded statements with police.
It is said that the boy accessed his mother’s bag and took the keys to his parents’ bedroom about 3pm. He then opened a safe in the bedroom where the MP keeps his firearms.
Though none of the family members recalls hearing a shot, a bar operator near the MP’s home told police that he heard a bang from the direction of the home about 3pm.
The shotgun that was originally thought to have been used in the suicide is undergoing ballistic examination at the DCI laboratory in Nairobi, so is the pistol believed to be owned by the MP.
This is as investigators, basing on the results of the post-mortem, test whether it is possible for one to shoot themselves in the chin based on the length of a shotgun. BY DAILY NATION