Wundanyi residents in Taita Taveta County have decried rising cases of insecurity in the area after the bizarre murder of two women.
The women were killed in separate incidents in Wesu and Werugha area, in Wundanyi ward.
In the recent past, traders in Wundanyi town and its environs have reported an increase in violent crimes, including cases of break-ins into their business premises.
On Monday, Werugha villagers woke up to a shocking incident after a decapitated body of a woman was found dumped by the roadside at a shopping centre in the area.
The mutilated body was discovered by a hotel owner who was heading to open up his business early in the morning.
Werugha residents at the scene where the body parts of woman were found buried in a shallow grave in Werugha, Wundanyi, Taita Taveta county. Residents want the police to beef up security in the area.
Photo credit: Lucy Mkanyika I Nation Media Group.
Other items including the victim’s clothes, a wrapper, bedsheets, a washbasin and a jug were also recovered.
On Tuesday, detectives went back to the river to establish the scene of the crime.
Wundanyi Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO) Richard Cheruiyot said they suspected that the deceased could have been murdered elsewhere and her body parts dumped at the river and the trunk at the shopping centre.
Kese residents overcome by grief over the murder of Ms Mary Mwamtungu at Werugha area in Wundanyi, Taita Taveta county. Ms Mwamtungu's body was discovered decapitated at Kese shopping centre.
Photo credit: Lucy Mkanyika I Nation Media Group
"We are back here to establish the scene. We also want to see whether we can get any leads to the perpetrators," he said.
The middle-aged woman had gone to a nearby shopping centre on Sunday night to buy a toothbrush before she met her killers.
The deceased worked as a domestic worker in the area where she lived with a gardener and her children.
The incident comes barely a week after another murder was reported at Wesu area in the same ward, where a woman was gang-raped and killed at her home on Wednesday last week.
As the two families plan to lay their kins to rest, women leaders in the county have come out to raise concerns over the incidents.
Three years ago, a criminal gang on the loose gang-raped and killed women and girls in the area.
The residents are now living in fear over the insurgence of the crimes in the area. Displeased by the killings, the angry locals and leaders condemned the two incidents.
Woman Representative Lydia Haika consoles the daughter of Ms Mary Mwamtungu whose decapitated body was found at a shopping centre in Werugha, Taita Taveta county. The leader has called for thorough investigation into the incident.
Photo credit: Lucy Mkanyika I Nation Media Group
Led by Woman Representative Lydia Haika, the leaders called for an immediate probe into the bizarre murders of the two women.
"If they (police) think that they will come here, take notes and photos then do nothing they are mistaken. We want to see arrests this time around," she said.
"Up to when will women in this county continue to live in fear of such brutal attacks and perpetrators continue walking freely waiting for their next prey? We don't want to take the law into our hands and that is why we want to see action by relevant authorities," she said.
County executive for Youth and Gender Vumi Ringo said security officers should enhance patrols to minimise such cases.
"We are now living in fear and we cannot discharge our day to day activities because of such incidents," she said.
Residents accused the police in the area of laxity and called on the government to step up security to curb the escalating crime rate.
"We are shocked that such incidents are happening in this area. We are disheartened by this trend so we want the police to take action," said a resident, Irene Wawuda.
