‘Serial killer’ Facebook chilling posts

Suspected serial killer Mustafa Idd Lokono in an Eldoret court on October 2, 2019. He was remanded until October 22, when the case will be mentioned. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mustafa Idi had shown signs that mental experts associate with being a psychopath.

  • Majority of serial killers who are sexually motivated erotised violence during development.

  • For them, violence and sexual gratification are inexplicably intertwined in their psyche.

By bragging about having killed two women before the brutal murder of Emma Wanyotta on Monday night that has been linked to him, Mustafa Idd Lokono had shown signs that mental experts associate with being a psychopath.

Mr Lokono’s Facebook page throws hints of a man who has always been at odds with those around him. At times he gets brash, at other times tender or plain indifferent.

BRASH SIDE

One of his tender moments was in August 2017 when he addressed his late mother, wishing she could give him a chance to apologise for an undisclosed offence. In its abridged version, part of the post says: “I’m cursed because of your tears, mom. So, wherever you are, your child is truly sorry. So, before I die and before your time (I) just want you to forgive me.”

Posts that brought out his brash side are plenty. “Kama kunichukia ndo dawa, endelea kumalizia dozi! (if hating me is medicine, go ahead and finish taking your dose),” he typed in August 2017.

Earlier that month he had written (abridged): “I don’t feel bad if people reject or ignore me. People usually reject and ignore expensive things because they can’t afford them.” And a few days before Emma’s death, he had posted: “God forgive me 4 dating a lesbian.”

In one post he celebrated his sulky nature: “The day I smiled, a tragedy happened. Let me keep my screw face.”

His posts reveal that he idolises American rapper Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996 aged 25. One Tupac song he has quoted is the 1995 release “Me Against the World”, part of which says: “It’s just me against the world, baby/ Me against the world/ I got nothin’ to lose.”

SOCIALLY AGGRESSIVE

Psychotherapist Hiram Chomba told the Nation that such detachment from the rest of humanity is an indicator of a disturbed mind.

Mr Chomba reasoned that psychopathology manifests itself in many ways, but key among them is deviation from what is deemed normal.

“It is a sickness in which someone derives pleasure in socially aggressive ways, or going against nature or ascribed patterns of living in a society. There are people who derive pleasure by going against them,” he said.

“Such a person shows a deep level of maladjustment in their formative years. As a child, they might also have either witnessed such things done to someone or they have grown up in a very highly abusive set-up,” added Mr Chomba.

On why the suspect could brag about having killed before, Mr Chomba said such pronouncements provide an illusion of power. “It’s the whole concept of instilling fear, feeling powerful. Because people with such tendencies have a skewed idea of power.”

SEXUAL PLEASURE

A document published by America’s FBI, which was the product of deliberations on serial killing by 135 experts in 2005, says a person can be described as a serial killer when he or she kills three or more people.

Regarding those who kill for sexual pleasure, it says: “The majority of serial killers who are sexually motivated erotised violence during development. For them, violence and sexual gratification are inexplicably intertwined in their psyche.” The document also notes that there is no generic template for a serial killer.

But Mr Chomba said there are signs that present high suspicion that a person is a psychopath. Among them is being extremely calculative, exhibiting antisocial behaviour from a young age like missing classes, feeling isolated and reacting violently to situations.

A court in Eldoret Wednesday allowed police to detain Mr Lokono for 20 days pending investigations even as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions defended itself over how the man was released from remand in a previous murder case.

POST-MORTEM

Mustafa Idd Lokono, 31, is suspected to have brutally murdered Emma Wanyotta, 21, on September 30 at Moi’s Bridge in Soy, Uasin Gishu County.

Mr Lokono was arrested on Monday night following the incident that left residents in shock.

Detective Veronica Muinami told Eldoret Resident Magistrate Christine Menya, who was holding brief for High Court Deputy Registrar Grace Sitati, that police were yet to complete investigations into the alleged murder and they needed to detain the suspect for 20 more days.

Ms Muinami told the court that a post-mortem exam was yet to be conducted on the slain woman.

Police further told the court that if the suspect was released, he was likely to interfere with investigations as potential prosecution witnesses were yet to record statements.

Ms Muinami added that the life of the suspect was in danger as the public was baying for his blood following the killing of Wanyotta.

Additional reporting by Titus Ominde and Gerald Bwisa