Suspected cannibal to be charged

A herder accused of killing his neighbour and making a meal out of parts of his body will be charged with murder in Nakuru on Monday.

The suspect, who has been under tight police security at Kirengerero Police Station, is accused of hacking Mr Peter Chepongos to death at Tetu Farm before making soup using the victim’s bowels and a leg.

Residents of Tetu were shocked when they stumbled upon two polythene bags containing human hair and roast meat believed to have been sourced from Mr Chepongos, a father of five, during a search in the herder’s house.

Residents who talked to the Nation on Sunday said Mr Chepongos could have been attacked for using a footpath passing through a private farm, where the suspected herdsman-cum-cannibal is employed as a caretaker.

Police said the roasted human flesh, a bloodstained panga, a sufuria containing boiled bowels had been kept as exhibits.

The body has been preserved at the Nyahururu District Hospital mortuary.

A relative of the victim, Mr Francis Tarkus, said he had parted ways with his cousin at 7pm last Friday and was surprised when he was informed that Mr Chepongos did sleep at his home. This prompted them to launch a manhunt.

“We started asking neighbours, and the herdsman also told us he had not seen him, but I noticed he was fidgety, despite having a panga that he usually carried all the time. As we passed by the footpath, we noticed a pool of blood and a few metres away, we saw Chepongos’ cap,” he said.

The search team zeroed in on the herdsman’s house where they broke in and found the meat and some bits of hair.

The suspect is said to have disappeared, leaving grazing cattle unattended, after body parts were found in his house.

The residents also discovered a human body covered with a bed cover on the roadside while searching for the suspect.

The irate villagers returned to the farm where they found more meat stashed in polythene bags.

On Sunday, the villagers continued to flock at the Nyahururu mortuary to view the half-eaten body with part of the leg eaten and bowels missing.

Police said the man would charged in court on Monday in an incident that has shocked many Kenyans.