Ugandan doctor murder linked to 'prayers for healing' criminal gang
Dr Gideon Wamasebu Simiyu, the Ugandan doctor reported missing after he travelled from his home in Uganda a week ago and crossed into Kenya. Family identified his body on February 13, 2023.
Detectives investigating the reported kidnapping and murder of a Ugandan doctor have recovered his Identity Card from the home of a key suspect in Kakamega County.
The detectives retrieved the ID card, belonging to Dr Gideon Wamasebu from the roof of the suspect’s house in Machemo village, Kimangeti area, Kakamega North Sub County.
The Sub County Police Commander Mr Paul Mwenda told the Nation that the suspect, Kevin Shatome Muranda, 23 had led detectives to his home on Tuesday and handed over the document to them.
The detectives collected several other items from the home for forensic analysis.
The detectives are reported to have spent several hours combing the home and collecting different items, including some food samples from the kitchen.
The investigations appear to link the kidnapping and murder of the doctor to a wide network of a criminal gang whose members claim they can offer healing through prayers.
The criminals who are part of an extortion ring operating in Kenya and Uganda are reported to lure unsuspecting victims by offering prayers to them.
“What is emerging is that this could be a wide network of criminals operating in Kenya and Uganda, pretending they are offering prayers and miracle healing to people,” said Mr Mwenda.
The police boss said their counterparts in Uganda had arrested a suspect known as Hussein who is linked to kidnaping of the missing doctor.
A postmortem examination of the doctor’s body conducted at the Kakamega County General Hospital on Monday night indicted that he was drugged and later strangled, before his body was buried in a shallow grave next to river Isiukhu.
The Kakamega County Pathologist Dr Dickson Mchana said samples had been obtained from the body for DNA tests before the identity of the deceased could be confirmed.
Dr Wamasebu is reported to have gone missing on February 7 after he travelled from his home in Uganda by public transport and crossed into Kenya before headed to Webuye town in Bungoma County.
He is reported to have been accompanied by a pastor who had visited him.
The family of the doctor said he had travelled to Kenya on business trip but later sent distress messages through his phone, informing them he had been kidnapped and his life was in danger.
He asked his family members to send him Sh4 million to save his life.
“We have been lucky to recover the ID card of the deceased from the house of key suspect who is currently in custody. The detectives searched the home and have managed to piece together important clues that will help unravel what could have happened,” said the police boss.
Read: Family of missing Ugandan doctor identifies his body after exhumation from Kakamega farm | Nation
The home of the suspect was deserted when the Nation team visited the village yesterday.
His wife was reported to have gone to her parent’s rural home in Lukume village after villagers threatened to set the suspect ‘s house on fire.
It emerged yesterday that, Kevin and his younger brother Kennedy Muranda, 19 who are both suspects in the murder of the doctor are school dropouts.
Their stepbrother, Caleb Shatome said Kevin had dropped out of school in Class Six and later went to Uganda four years ago to look for a job.
Kevin’s father Joseph Mwandafu was among the founders of the African B Church in Malava and prayed for people in the village, offering miracle healing to the sick.
When he died, he had married five wives. His first wife, Gladys Mwandafu separated with her husband after a disagreement but returned to her matrimonial home after he died.
Mr Shatome, a boda boda rider in Malava town said: “When he dropped out of school, I got tough with him and insisted that he would not sit at home, idling. That is when he sneaked from home and went to Uganda in search of a job, accompanied by his younger brother.”
When Kevin returned home in 2022, he had joined the church and was offering prayers for the sick and people who needed spiritual support.
He built a house in the village and furnished it, but his visits home was shrouded in mystery.
“Kevin would to the village and keep to himself in his compound without interacting with the rest of the family members. He would leave abruptly without informing us where he was going. But all along we knew, he was busy at the church in Uganda,” said Ms Mwandafu.
Villagers in Machemo are still in shock in the wake of the unfolding details linked to the kidnapping and murder of the doctor.
“We are living in fear here in the village because our neighbours have profiled the family members as criminals. But police have assured us that they will protect us and our properties as the investigations continue,” said Ms Mwandafu.
She said the incident had cast a negative image on members of the family and called on police to conduct thorough investigations and arrest other suspects still on the run.
