Kenyan football fan stabbed to death after Manchester derby
Manchester City's Belgian footballer Vincent Kompany heads to score his team's first goal against Manchester United during their English Premier League match at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north-west England, on April 30, 2012. A Kenyan football fan was stabbed to death after an argument over the game in the capital Nairobi. AFP PHOTO
Kenyan Police are looking for a football fan who stabbed to death a young man after they fought over Monday’s televised football match pitting two English teams.
Mr Stephen Oluoch, 24, who was struck with a knife at the back of his head was described by friends as a staunch football supporter and had watched as Manchester United lost a season-defining match to arch rivals Manchester City.
The killer left him lying in a pool of blood, about 10 metres from his house, at Nairobi’s Mbotela estate.
The incident happened a few minutes to midnight in the final minutes of the match that ended 1-0.
It started with a heated argument, according to neighbours who overheard them, then degenerated into an exchange of abusive words, followed by a fight before Mr Ochola yelled for help.
Neighbours who rushed to the scene found him dead.
Moments earlier, Mr Oluoch had been watching the match which was broadcast live on TV with his cousin Vitalis Ochieng, together with about 20 other soccer enthusiasts at one of the makeshift cubicles at the nearby shopping centre, where local youths meet to watch live TV matches.
His cousin told the Nation: “He had been followed Manchester United matches on TV. It was towards the end of the second half when Steve walked out and a few minutes later, I received a call from a neighbour. He asked me to rush home. Steve had been stabbed.”
Neighbours told Mr Ochieng that the deceased had been overheard arguing with another man over the match before he started screaming for help.
“I abandoned the match and rushed home. I found him lying on the ground. He had lost a lot of blood and was motionless. We sent someone to call the police,” he added.
The assailant was identified as a distant relative of the deceased and has since gone missing.
The assailant, according to Mr Ochieng, was a football fanatic, and often cheered whenever the English teams games were broadcast on TV.
Makadara police commander Atuti Moturi said: “We are looking for him because we have a witness who said the killer told him he had killed somebody. He did not believe it immediately until the following morning.”
The rooms made of rusty iron sheets where the local youths meet to watch football have been christened Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or The Emirates, depending on which team those who patronise the joints support.
The youths have given the names after the English clubs stadiums, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal being the most supported teams in Kenya.
When the Nation visited the area Tuesday a small black board hang on a locked door, advertising Tuesday’s Liverpool vs Fulham match at 9.45pm Kenyan time.
Monday’s game was played at Etihad stadium, Manchester, UK.
Though thousands of miles away from Kenya, English football teams have a fanatical following in Kenya.
Like many other Kenyans, Mr Oluoch had watched on television as his favourite team’s hopes of retaining the English Premier League champions were dimmed.
The assailant was not with him during the match.
“He could not wait for the final whistle because United was a goal down and it was injury time. He left to go and sleep. He must have met him (the assailant) on his way,” said Mr Ochieng.
In 2009, Mr Suleiman Alfonso Omondi, 29 committed suicide after his favourite English football team Arsenal lost a match.
His body was found dangling from a rope at his house in the city's Pipeline estate hours after Arsenal lost to Manchester United 1-3 in a semi final of the European Champions League.
A spokeswoman of Arsenal Football Club, Katie Baldwin at the time said that the club "express our deepest condolences to the family and friends".
