Police hunt for clues after four bodies exhumed from shallow graves in Kitui

Kitui County Police Commander Martha Ng’etich urged members of the public to come forward and help identify the victims.

“So far, no one has come forward to claim the bodies. We are calling on members of the public who might have lost relatives to come forward,” she told the Nation in an interview.

On Wednesday, a team of homicide detectives from the DCI headquarters combed the area where the four bodies were found.

Detectives also pitched tents near the River Tyaa bridge, where the police had previously recovered two bodies in May and one in April. The section of the river where the three bodies were found is barely 300 metres from the gully where the four bodies were exhumed on Tuesday.

Ms Ng’etich said that the three earlier bodies retrieved earlier have also not been claimed.

“We shall conduct forensic investigations to establish, among other things, whether there is any link between the two sets of bodies,” she said, as tension remained high in Mwingi Town.

Read: Grief, fury as seven who died in Mwingi bandit attack laid to rest

A contingent of anti-riot police officers remained on standby at Mwingi Central Police Station amid reports that residents were planning protests over rising insecurity.

The discoveries have drawn attention to the thicket where the shallow graves were found. This area borders a primary school, three hotels and a petrol station, and is located on the Garissa–Mwingi highway.

The overgrown thicket covers a deep gully, in which the four bodies were buried, just 50 metres from the highway.

The man who raised the alarm that led to the discovery said he had entered the thicket to relieve himself when he stumbled upon the bodies.

“One of the bodies had its back exposed. That is the body I saw before raising the alarm,” he said, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A veterinary officer from the Kitui County government who is familiar with the area said that water vendors had previously dumped the carcasses of overworked donkeys in the same thicket.

“It looks like Mwingi has become Shakahola,” said Kivou MCA Sammy Musili, referring to the Shakahola forest in Kilifi where dozens of bodies were discovered in mass graves in 2023.

He suggested that the seven bodies recovered in the area might have been killed elsewhere and dumped in Mwingi.

Read: Ride with corpses: Farmer's brush with death in Kitui clashes

The Kitui leaders — Mwingi Central MP Gideon Mulyungi, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, and Kitui Woman Representative Irene Kasalu — described the discoveries separately as an indictment of the region's security apparatus.

“It seems the police in the Mwingi region do not relate well with the community. These incidents should not have happened if there was better community policing,” Mr Mulyungi said. He called on Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja to overhaul the security in Mwingi to prevent similar incidents.

However, Mr Maina dismissed the criticism, stating that the police would continue searching the area to ensure there were no additional shallow graves.

To prevent further incidents, he urged residents to remain vigilant.

“Do not hesitate to report suspicious activities. The era of fearing the police is long gone,” he said.

Senator Wambua also appealed for calm, urging residents to cooperate with security agencies.

“Let us remain vigilant. We should identify and report criminal elements determined to destroy the good image of Mwingi Town,” he said.

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