Four beaten to death on suspicion of being thieves in Kitengela

Families of four young men who were lynched by an angry mob in Kitengele are disputing claims that their sons were rustlers on a mission to steal cattle in a homestead in the area.

The families say the four, two among them brothers, left Syokimau on Friday for a birthday party in a relatives home in Kitengela only to meet death on their way. Police are investigating the incident even as post mortem results showed that they suffered both sharp and blunt object injuries on their bodies.

The family of two brothers, Fredrick Mureithi Wanjiru and Victor Mwangi Wanjiru arrived at the city mortuary for the second time this week. They were there on Monday to identify bodies of their loved ones who went missing on Saturday last week.

The distraught family narrating the Saturday incident, that occurred a day after the four friends reportedly left their homes in Syokimau riding their sports bikes to celebrate the birthday of one of them — 25-year-Victor Mwangi Wanjiru.

On the fateful day between noon and 9pm, the four were reportedly on an after party motor racing between Kitengela and Isinya in Kajiado when one motor cycle broke down.

It is while trying to repair the motor bike that they were attacked by local herdsmen who accused them of plotting to steal their livestock, all the four were killed on the spot.

“Walikuwa wanatengeneza pikipiki… wakaenda testing about 7km away wakauawa huko… vile tulisoma ni kama mob justice… lakini kulingana na polisi haikuwa ni uhalifu walikuwa starehe zao…,” said Maina Mureithi, the uncle.

Police in Kitengela and their counterparts in Isinya are investigating the killings as they pursue those responsible.

Meanwhile, the family of the two brothers have moved the bodies of their loved ones from City Mortuary to Kenyatta University Referral Hospital Mortuary as they prepare to lay them to rest in their rural home in Nyandarua County.