A 38-year-old construction worker was beheaded in a suspected ritualistic attack that left villagers at Mirera area of Naivasha shocked.
John Karanja, was cycling home on Saturday night when he was accosted by his assailants. His headless body was found near the Naivasha-Nakuru railway line by villagers headed for church on Sunday morning.
“As a family, we are devastated by what we have just witnessed,” said Karanja’s elder brother, Dedan Kariuki.
“It was the usual friendly banter between siblings, nothing amiss,” Mr Kariuki said.
Speaking at the scene of the incident, Mr Kariuki described his brother as an introvert who was rarely at loggerheads with anyone.
He said the brother who mostly survived on menial jobs, had received his weekly wages. He wondered why his assailants beheaded him.
Shock as construction worker is beheaded in Mirera village, Naivasha
“We suspect it was ritual killing. Why did they have to butcher him and carry the head away?” posed Mr Kariuki.
The victim, who was killed less than 100 metres from his home, had called his mother promising to return home early.
Area member of county assembly Virginia Gichanga condemned the rising murder cases in the area. She said that a woman was killed in the area and her leg was amputated last year.
“To date, no suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of the woman. We are now witnessing a similar occurrence,” she said.
The ward rep called on the police to step up the fight against crime, claiming bhang smoking and use of other illegal substances were rampant.
There was a tense moment at the scene of the incident after irate villagers blocked police from collecting the body.
The villagers demanded that the police bring a sniffer dog. The residents described the area where the casual worker was killed as dangerous and crime prone at night.
