HOMICIDE: Killer believes some neghbours are helping his victims and has vowed to eliminate them as well
After committing the second murder, the killer was pursued by locals far away up to Oloiyangalani
Residents of a village in Purko Ward in Kajiado County are living in fear after the perpetrator of two murders in the area allegedly said 10 more people will have to die.
The shocking murder of a second member of the same family recently has raised tensions in the Nkoile area. The same killer is said to be responsible for the murders two years in succession, the first one having been committed last year.
“This person ran away to the bush and the investigations by government bodies were not vigilant. We have heard that he has been around; he comes at night and flees early in the morning. He was being helped by his sisters who are married within the area and his aunt who is also a neighbour, her mother and his wife,” said area MCA Simon ole Saitoti.
After committing the second murder, the killer was pursued by locals far away up to Oloiyangalani near some wind turbines. They caught sight of him several times but did not reach him. Contacts of the people he is suspected to be in close touch with have been shared with detectives.
“There is not much commitment by the police,” said Saitoti. “Even the group that pursued him the whole day had no government support. The police could have engaged with sniffer dogs and cameras and the perpetrator would have been arrested. The only reason he was not caught is because of laxity of the security personnel.”
Area residents later barricaded the Kajiado-Namanga road demanding action by security officers.
It is said that the most recent murder arose out of bitterness following the death of the perpetrator’s father. “During the transportation of the body for burial, the road they wanted to use passed through the land of those victims.
So, they blocked the road. Among our taboos, when such things happen, people don’t touch anything of that family that they have issues with. So, despite those two fathers being brothers, and so the one killing being first cousins with his victims, no one can step on the other’s land. So, there was no way the body could pass through there and the road was not a public road but just an easy access route,” said Saitoti.
When the killer ambushed the deceased, he asked him whether he was the one who had blocked the way. Before he answered, the attacker slashed his hand, then his head, and thereafter strangled him with a shuka.
The killer was not at the scene during the transportation of his father’s body or during the burial since he was hiding in the bush following the first murder last year. He got the story from family members and came out for revenge.
The killer believes some neghbours are helping his victims and has vowed to eliminate them as well. He has pinpointed 10 people whom he wants dead, of which the area MCA said he knows two.
The killing of the first victim last year was the result of a boundary dispute. When the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Ketraco) established its infrastructure passing through the area, it made payments to those through whose land its posts passed. The killer claimed to also be an owner of the land and that the payment to the victims’ family belonged to both sides. Only one post is on the land.
A surveyor who was called to draw the boundary is said to have been disrupted by the family, none of whom could agree on where the boundary should be.
The killer is said to be a person who sticks to himself and nobody knows anything about him. “There was a time he held a birthday party and friends from Nairobi came with almost 100 high-end motorbikes and big vehicles,” said Saitoti. “People in my area are now afraid.
Nobody has peace since the killer has listed other innocent people. They should try to bring the criminal to book.”
