In the line of duty: NTV cameraman James Ng’ang’a shows his injured hand and a camera shattered by a bullet fired by a warder from the Eldoret Prison. Mr Ng’ang’a was shot at during the arrest of one of six men who escaped from jail. Jared Nyataya | NATION
An NTV cameraman was injured and his camera shattered by prison warders while covering the escape of inmates from Eldoret prison.
Mr James Ng’ang’a was shot by a warder who had arrested one of the escapees.
The bullet hit the cameraman’s middle and index right hand fingers and destroyed the deck component of the camera.
The warders, who seemed intoxicated, fired several times in the air as they ordered journalists and the public to leave the scene.
The 2pm incident brought business to a standstill as the warders banged vehicles with their gun butts, causing panic among drivers.
“We do not want any journalist to cover this event. We know you are going to exaggerate it,” said one of the warders.
The junior officers defied their seniors who wanted journalists to proceed with the coverage.
“These guys are doing their work and you should not harass them,” pleaded a senior officer at the prison.
Some of the warders were armed with iron bars and machetes while pursuing the escapees.
Six remandees are said to have escaped from the prison and only one had been arrested by the time of going to press.
The NTV cameraman reported the matter at the Eldoret Police Station and later proceeded to Eldoret Hospital for treatment.
The incident comes a day after two remand prisoners were shot dead in Webuye as they tried to escape from custody.
Two of the escapees were arrested a few kilometres from the scene. They were being ferried to the Bungoma law courts.
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