Mystery as missing man found dead in Mombasa police toilet, 486km from home
Coast
By
Joackim Bwana
| Sep 21, 2025
The family of a 26-year-old man who died in a toilet at the Mombasa Central Police Station’s cells is demanding justice.
Simon Warui was detained on Thursday morning after he was escorted there by a Good Samaritan who found him wandering at the Mombasa Catholic Cathedral Church.
The family said he went missing from their house in Nairobi on September 14. On Thursday night, Warui was found lying in a pool of blood in the cell’s toilet.
His cousin, Godfrey Gichuru, said Warui’s wife reported him missing at the Kamukunji Police Station. It is not yet clear how the deceased travelled about 486 kilometres from Nairobi to Mombasa.
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The family arrived in Mombasa on Thursday to bail him out, but were shocked after the police informed them he had fallen in the toilet and died.
“The police told us that he tried to climb a wall in the cells but fell and died,” said Gichuru.
Yesterday, human rights activists questioned the police explanation, saying Warui’s death is similar to other recent ones in the cells.
“A police cell should be the safest place for a Kenyan. Suspects in danger of a lynch mob running to the police station for safety. These deaths are eroding that confidence,” said Julius Ogogoh, executive director of the Centre for Litigation Trust.
He called for a judicial inquest into the deaths, adding that Kenyans were losing trust in the Independent Police Oversight Authority.
According to the postmortem done at the Coast General Hospital, Warui died from fractures in the neck and a lack of oxygen to the brain due to haemorrhage.
According to a nun who saw Warui at the Cathedral, he was not in a normal state of mind.
At the church, he is said to have met a security officer who took him to a priest, where he was given food.
“My cousin called his wife and brother with a strange number and informed them he was in Mombasa. We are now wondering what happened to him while in the police cells,” said Gichuru.
Warui’s friend, Daniel Gicheha, said the officers denied them access to Warui when they brought him food 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, we need justice,” he said.