Irate residents of Gachocho village in Murang’a County on Wednesday, July 10, raided a police patrol base, and stoned officers who fled, before dragging a murder suspect out of the cells and murdering him.
The locals said an eye for an eye was the only sure justice for them since they have no faith in the police stationed in the area.
Kigumo police boss Kiprono Tanui said that trouble started on Tuesday night when three brothers quarrelled over a domestic issue, a fight ensued, and one died.
“It is alleged that two brothers ganged up against their sibling and assaulted him, resulting in his death. When the matter was reported, officers were sent to arrest one of the brothers as a prime suspect since the other had fled,” he said.
Mr Tanui added that when neighbours learnt of the incident, they armed themselves with crude weapons and stormed the Gachocho police patrol base, demanding to be handed the suspect in custody.
“Of course, that was an impossible request, and our officers declined. The residents stoned the officers, they even used catapults. The officers manning the patrol base were overwhelmed,” he said.
Mr Tanui identified the dead brothers as Kibugu wa Richard and Maina wa Richard, who was killed at the police post.
He said that as officers fled for dear life, the residents broke into the police cells, dragged the suspect out and stoned him to death.
“When reinforcement arrived, it was too late. Teargas and other crowd control methods were used, but we were unable to rescue the suspect, who, unfortunately, succumbed to injuries inflicted by the mob,” Mr Tanui said.
The rowdy residents attempted to take the body, saying they wanted to bury it in a public cemetery without any ceremony.
“We were able to prevent the residents from taking the body. A postmortem will be done as investigations progress. We have started investigations to establish the people who attacked the police and murdered the suspect. We will make sure we get the other suspect who fled,” he said, adding that the bodies of the two brothers were taken to Murang’a County mortuary.
The family's spokesman, Elijah Nduati, said: “We are saddened by this turn of events...These brothers have never loved one another and their quarrelling is historical.”
“We now have two bodies to bury and another son hiding and whose fate is uncertain...God, this is raw grief,” he added.
Police boss Catherine Ringera from the neighbouring Kahuro Sub-County said that the missing brother had surrendered at the station in the afternoon.
An advocate of the High Court, Timothy Mwangi, told Nation.Africa that police patrol bases are not gazetted to legally hold suspects.
“Once officers in these patrol bases arrest suspects, they are supposed to transfer them to any nearby gazetted police station. In this case, the suspect who was killed was supposed to have been taken to Kigumo Police Station,” he said.
“Due diligence is supposed to be exercised by police officers once they arrest a suspect linked to serious crime, since they are bound to invite negative emotions from members of the public,” he added.
Area Nyumba Kumi community policing initiative member Martin Mburu said the crowd was enormous for the police to restrain it. He said they were overpowered and ran for their lives.
“It was dramatic. The crowd gained access into the police station and fished out the suspect and murdered him...That is what happens when a society loses trust in the system,” he added.
Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu said the incident was a shame and called on police officers to always be accountable.
"This is evidence of the collapse of the rule of law. When residents resort to go after suspects in custody and proceed to lynch them outside police stations, it tells a story about how they rate security personnel...it is scaring," he said.
He said the same frustrations are being experienced in the crop and livestock thefts "where residents tired of waiting for government response have resorted to patrolling their homesteads and shambas and ending up lynching suspects that they nab".
Mr Nyutu said "Our security officers must get on top of these incidents and give our people a reason to believe in due process instead of resorting to jungle law".
