A 21-year-old man has died in Murang’a after his mother and elder brother, who accused him of theft, allegedly “disciplined” him by severe beating.
The death of John Ng'ang'a marks yet another dynamic front of lawlessness that has gripped Murang'a County, where residents have resorted to taking the law into their own hands, punishing those they deem as offenders instead of handing them over to police.
The August 22, 2024 incident happened at Gatunduguru village in Kigumo Constituency where, after several complaints to the local police station without action being taken, the family decided to seek a domestic solution that went awry.
"We have arrested the mother and the brother over the death of their family member. We are investigating them regarding the claimed attack that left the victim dead," said Kigumo Sub-County police commander Kiprono Tanui.
Before meeting his death, Mr Tanui said while preliminary investigations had returned home at around 10 pm while drunk.
"The verbal witnesses that we have gathered so far indicate that the young man had a history of stealing from the family so as to finance his addiction. There are several reports that the family has made against the deceased in local police stations," he said.
The family, he added, had reported the suspect for allegedly stealing iron sheets, avocados, household items, and clothing among other goods.
Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu said the trigger to the unfortunate incident is contained in the revelation that the family had made several reports against their kin with no action being taken.
"It is under such a relationship between the deceased and his family members that saw the fatal attack happen. We now have the matter getting out of hand with the mother and her son being prime suspects. It shows we have a grave problem," he said.
Mr Tanui said Ng'ang'a’s body had head and back injuries that appeared at face value to have been caused by the use of blunt objects.
He said one of the witnesses had mentioned that the attackers used clubs and pieces of wood to batter him to death.
"The body has been moved to Murang'a Level Five Hospital mortuary where a postmortem will be conducted and the root cause of death defined. If his mother and brother are found to be in the wrong, they will be charged," he said.
Mr Nyutu wondered whether the tragedy would have been averted had the police taken seriously complaints by the family that their kin was a thief.
"Had the police moved in and arrested the suspect for corrective rehabilitation, I wonder whether this incident that has claimed the life of the reported suspect would have arisen," Mr Nyutu said.
Gatunduguru village elder Jane Wairimu said, "I am a witness that the family has been going through a lot at the hands of the deceased".
"I am privy to police reports by the family complaining that the deceased had started breaking into houses in the compound, harvesting materials to sell as scrap metal, stealing avocados, utensils and even livestock to finance his drug and alcohol addiction".
The death of the youth becomes yet another additional data on ever-growing cases of mob justice in Murang'a County.
In the past two months, police records indicate that residents have lynched at least eight suspects, burned five houses, raided two police stations, and two chiefs’ camps and destroyed two police vehicles.
Mr Nyutu described the spiralling wave as that of anarchy, that trashes the Constitution and attached penal codes.
"We must now make it crystal clear whether we want a county that seeks primitive justice or that strictly adheres to the rule of law. We cannot have both as order...the buck stops with the county security committee," he said.
Murang'a County Sports and Youth Affairs Youth Executive Manoah Gachucha said, "We are being treated to this circus owing to the serious collapse of policing integrity".
“We have some police officers who only love bribes but not enforcing the law," he added.
He said public frustrations with policing services amid a sharp rise in marauding gangs and other criminal elements was the root cause of lawlessness.
"As some of our police officers cut deals with criminals, the residents are coming out to exercise their sovereign power and the result is extremism...it is not the way to build a county and our police officers should be warned that they are sinking us into lawlessness," he said.
