Police have shot and killed a man said to be the most wanted criminal in central Kenya.
The man was killed Tuesday in his hideout in the Aberdare Forest by a special police unit after a three-month hunt.
Popularly known as "Simba" by locals, Samuel Kiboi lived in the forest and was accused of three murders and several rapes.
The man, believed to be in his late forties, was wanted by police for the murder of three people, more than four cases of arson and countless assault cases.
On Tuesday morning, Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), a special unit of the Administration Police (AP), embarked on a search for the man, with residents joining them in an operation to eliminate what they described as the biggest menace they have encountered in decades.
The entire operation was done in harsh weather conditions due to heavy rains but the police and residents were relentless in their determination to catch the suspect.
Following a trail of footprints left in the mud, police finally caught up with the man in his hideout inside the forest where he was shot twice in the head when he tried to escape deeper into the woods.
Police said that the man had been evading all traps laid out for him and later on retaliating by attacking the residents at night.
“We have been searching for him for long but we were finally able to eliminate him,” said the Nyeri County AP Commander Njue Njagi.
According to police, Kiboi was being sought for the murder of a couple about two months ago and for killing a boda boda rider, who is said to have witnessed the couple’s killing.
Residents said that Kiboi would knock on people’s houses late and force women to cook ugali for him.
“He was forcing us to cook ugali for him and then he would just disappear with the food,” said Ms Veronicah Wanjiku, a resident.
“Anytime he would be spotted and an alarm was raised he would break all windows and then disappear,” said David Kabera, another resident.
Residents said that he was spotted in a local pub on Monday evening and police were alerted but he slipped away before they could arrive.
Later that night he is said to have set ablaze the house of the grieving mother of the deceased boda boda operator, with her and two children inside it.
However, an alarm was raised and the fire was contained and the woman and her children were rescued but with minor injuries.
Behind his makeshift shelter in the forest, Kiboi had a small garden where he had planted vegetables.
Food supplies like maize, raw bananas and wheat flour were also found inside the shelter.
“He was living like an animal. How does a human being live more than three kilometers into the forest?
“It is like he had reincarnated in the form of a beast,” exclaimed Mr Njue, the AP commander.
Residents of Othaya welcomed the killing of the suspected criminal by cheering as police carried his body away from the forest.
When police tried to load the body into one of their vehicles, the crowd demanded to see it, forcing the police to parade it for about four kilometres through Rwathini Village.
