Grief as families bury sons killed at Linda Mwananchi rally

Twenty-three-year-old Joseph Shikuku and nineteen-year-old Brandon Ong'or were reportedly assaulted by unknown persons in what their families describe as unprovoked attacks, witnessed by friends who had accompanied them to the rally.

Both were booked as victims of mob justice at Nairobi Funeral Home.

Evans Okoth, who was with the two men when they were attacked, said the trouble began as they made their way from Donholm to join the Linda Mwananchi rally along Jogoo Road.

"When we got to the flyover near Caltex Donholm, where you cross over to the other side of Jogoo Road, we heard commotion at the stage. I was dragged off and beaten with clubs, kicked everywhere. If you saw my face, you'd know I'm not okay," Okoth said.

He said he was attacked by a man wielding a panga before being rescued by a matatu crew, only to later learn that Shikuku had died during the attack after allegedly being thrown from the bridge.

"He was seated in front of me on the motorbike, I was first, he was second. Our rider managed to escape, and the two of us were left with this trouble," Okoth said.

Shikuku's sister, Mercy Awino, disputed the account of how her brother died, saying the injuries on his body did not match claims that he had jumped.

"We don't know how it happened. People came with pangas and clubs, according to their stories, and they say he jumped. But from the body, there is no fracture," Awino said.

The family of 19-year-old Brandon Ong'or is grappling with similar grief. He had left home saying he was going to attend the rally, only for his mother to later find his body at Nairobi Funeral Home.

"I was told it's my child, my child has been killed. There was fighting there, and that's what took my child from me. They beat him and he died. He was a good boy, not one for trouble. He should have been joining college," said his mother, Hellen Ong'or.

Sources at Nairobi Funeral Home confirmed that three bodies booked as victims of mob justice were brought to the facility following the rally.