Sombre mood as four men murdered in Gatundu laid to rest

Laban Mwathi, 54, Ernest Muigai, 27 and Patrick Nguku, 45 were interred at Gachugi village while Peter Irungu was laid to rest in Murang'a County.

The four were killed as they were heading home and postmortems conducted at General Kago Funeral Home in Thika on Wednesday last week revealed that their heads were smashed with a blunt object and they died of excessive bleeding.

Police in Gatundu North have since arrested 24-year-old Dominic Ngige in connection to the gruesome murder and are holding him at Kamwangi police station pending the conclusion of investigations. The suspect will be presented at the Gatundu law courts on September 5, 2023.

Speakers during the mass burial ceremony on Wednesday called on the authorities to beef up security in the villages, lamenting that cases of insecurity have drastically increased.

They expressed sorrow for losing innocent villagers who were the breadwinners of their families.

"It hurts to say goodbye dad. You've left a void in our lives and all we can pray is for your justice to be served," said Duncan Kimani, Nguku's second-born child.

Kiambu County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha assured the bereaved families that justice for their loved ones would be served. Nkanatha also divulged that security organs in the region are working round the clock to flush our criminal elements from the villages and restore normalcy and order.

"We have intensified night patrols and raids in illicit brew and drugs dens. We will leave no stone unturned until we drive out all criminals from this region. I also want to caution the youth to desist from engaging in criminal activities to avoid facing the wrath of the law," he said.

Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi cautioned parents against hiding their mentally challenged children saying that they should be exposed for help. This is after it emerged that the suspect in the gruesome murders was of unsound mind and he was once admitted at Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi.

Wamatangi also revealed that he will facilitate the employment of some of the bereaved families' kin to enable them to cater for their families after their breadwinners passed on.