Mungiki suspect hacked to death by village youths
What you need to know:
- Deceased and friend, who was seriously hurt, had attended hearing of case against colleagues
A suspected member of the outlawed Mungiki sect was hacked to death while another was seriously wounded by a mob in Kirinyaga County.
The suspects were attacked hours after attending court for the hearing of a criminal case against three of their colleagues.
Witnesses said the suspects arrived at the Baricho Law Courts at around 12.30pm on Wednesday for the mention of the case against their colleagues who face two counts of malicious damage to property and being members of an illegal organisation.
After the mention of the case, the suspects drove off in a private car, but stopped at a petrol station at Kagio to refill.
Unknown to them, the residents, who are part of a vigilante group, were monitoring their movements.
They seized them and took them to Nguini Village where they bound them with ropes before setting upon them with pangas, axes and other assorted weapons, killing one of them on the spot. They set the body ablaze.
However, police acting on a tip-off rushed to the scene and rescued the second victim. He was admitted to Karatina District Hospital with serious injuries.
Area deputy police boss Leonard Kimaiyo said the body was taken to Kerugoya District Hospital mortuary.
Mr Kimaiyo criticised the vigilantes for involvement in criminal activities, warning that they would be arrested and prosecuted.
He said no one had the authority to take the law in his hands, adding that police would investigate and bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.
Mr Kimaiyo said some of the vigilantes implicated in the gruesome killing had been identified.
He said a motorcycle belonging to one of the suspected killers had been impounded and is being detained at the local police station.
Mr Kimaiyo said the police would not allow senseless killings of suspected Mungiki adherents in the area, noting that suspects should be handed over to police for interrogation and prosecution.
The residents, however, claimed that three suspected members of the Mungiki sect had been killed.
“Two other bodies were collected at Kibirigwi and Ng’ombe villages in Kirinyaga West District,” a resident said.
But Mr Kimaiyo dismissed the claims, saying that only one suspect was lynched.
Vigilantes have been set up in the region to guard villages from attacks by members of the outlawed sect.
