Sh10,000 reward for arrest of 'lipless' robber on the run
MP Elijah Kururia has offered a Sh10,000 bounty for any information that will lead to the suspect's arrest.
Police in Gatundu North are on the lookout for a male criminal who has no lower lip after it was bitten off by a robbery victim.
The bizarre incident has also prompted area MP Elijah Kururia to step up the search by offering a Sh10,000 bounty for his arrest.
The suspect is said to be part of a four-man gang that has been terrorising residents. On October 20, the gang attacked Joseph Majembe as he was walking to his water point in Matungulu market.
According to Gatundu North Sub-county police boss, Ms Wanjiku Gakurui, "this area has been invaded by thugs who target farmers who have been paid their tea bonus."
She said the Sh42 per kilo paid to farmers has not only attracted robbers to the area, but also slay queens who are out to make a killing from men who are out to celebrate the bonus.
“It is in that situation that Mr Majembe found himself on the said day, except the thugs had not done their fieldwork well, since they picked on a farm help instead of a real farmer,” she said.
The four thugs formed a circle and attacked Mr Majembe, hitting him on the head with a blunt object.
Mr Majembe told Nation.Africa that the pain on his head and his desperation to hold on to his Sh850 and his smartphone made him decide to fight.
“The thugs did not appear strong…I knew I could beat them up, only that it was in darkness and I was not armed. Stones would have helped me a great deal, but unfortunately the place was dark and I could not find any,” he said.
Joseph Majembe, who says he bit off the lower lip of a thug who attacked him in Gatundu North.
He says two of the thugs restrained him while the other two rifled through his pockets.
“It was when I felt my cash being taken out of my trousers back pocket and my phone being taken out of my jacket’s inside pocket that anger and a don’t-care attitude gripped me. My hands were being held from behind. One of the thugs was directly in front of me…he had his lower lip protruding as he held me by the waist,” he says.
Mr Majembe says he opened his mouth wide as if (he was going) to scream, but instead he clenched his teeth and bit off the man’s lower lip.
Mr Majembe says all he heard was the man screaming in agony and the other three thugs running away "and he followed them into the darkness screaming".
Mr Majembe says he took the piece of lip to Matungulu police patrol base where he was given an OB number "but they refused to take the piece of lip as evidence, saying they had no freezer to preserve it".
Joseph Majembe shows the injury he sustained to his head while fighting off four thugs in Gatundu North.
He says he threw it away outside the station and the police say they are looking for a unique suspect who has exposed lower teeth.
“We are appealing to all hospitals and herbalists that may have treated a young man with a severed lower lip to assist us nab him,” said Ms Gakurui, the police boss.
MP Kururia said: “We are appealing to anyone with information that can lead us to arrest that lipless man, rest assured that I will reward [you] with Sh10,000…It will be an easy hunt if all cooperate. There is no way you can miss a man with a week-old wound of a [severed] lip."
“Insecurity in Gatundu North has been bad, but recently we have increased our vigilance and cooperation with security officers to a point the situation is improving,” the legislator added. "We are also investing in security-related infrastructure and equipping them with updated Information Technology (IT) [to enable] seamless communication...with residents."
MP Kururia also said that they intend to reduce the response time to emergency calls to less than 10 minutes and provide legal training to residents to enable them to be first responders and further reduce response time.
"If we teach locals how to execute safe citizen arrests, how to safely send distress calls to police officers, and empower partnerships by guaranteeing safety and confidentiality of whistleblowers, then this insecurity challenge will be minimised”.
