Puzzle of three missing men and a lawyer in witness protection

On December 17 last year, as most Kenyans were busy preparing for Christmas, three men were abducted in broad daylight.

Mr Joseph Giteme, Mr Charles Kalung'e, and Mr Bernard Miriti were returning home to Athimba village in Kanuni, Igembe South, Meru County, when three men in a Subaru blocked their Toyota Probox.

Motorists plying the Meru-Mikinduri route barely noticed the commotion that ensued near the Mulathankari Flyover as the three were subdued and herded from their car in an operation that lasted barely a minute.

The shocking account was narrated by a woman who was working in a nearby farm.

And for six weeks, friends and relatives of the three have gone through emotional and psychological torture trying to trace them.

Their last phone signals were traced to Anchenge hills, a rugged terrain with punishing cold temperatures about eight kilometres from Maua town on the same day they went missing.

Finding them alive

But hope of finding them alive is fast waning with every trail running cold in a crime that has horrified and shocked both friend and foe.

Mr Giteme, 40, was a person of interest in the attempted murder of lawyer Kirimi Mbogo and is currently an accused in a different case, in which the lawyer and three others have been placed in witness protection.

Mr Giteme is charged with the offence of giving false information to a person employed in the public service contrary to section 129 (a) of the Penal Code.

Mr Mbogo, the lawyer who handled the case, was shot in the same week the case was revived having been terminated in 2016 by a Director of Public Prosecution officer.

Other witnesses had developed cold feet after Mr Mbogo was shot and injured. It is after the lawyer implicated Mr Giteme in the shooting that the witnesses were put on the protection programme.

The three missing men are related. Mr Miriti, 31, is Giteme’s step-brother while Mr Kalung’e, 58, is the uncle of Giteme’s wife, Purity Makena.

Mr Kalung’e was reportedly ill and was on medication and rest before he went missing and his family is worried about his wellbeing.

Relatives have now turned their anger on the police, whom they accuse of being disinterested in the matter and ignoring crucial leads.

Led by Kanuni MCA Josphat Mugambi, they say they had provided information which if pursued, could provide clues on the perpetrators who, it turns out, had trailed Mr Giteme for days.

Mr Mugambi says police have been given the registration number of the vehicle involved in the abduction. Two days before the abduction, the car was driven up to Mr Giteme’s gate, seemingly for surveillance.

When Mr Giteme’s child went to open the gate, the driver sped off, but the vehicle was soon seen slowly being driven to and fro, always stopping near the home.

Mr Mugambi says the case arouses enormous interest, with Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi petitioning Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, who dispatched three detectives from Nairobi to help in the investigation.

Police are sleeping on their job

“The police have been telling us that they are investigating the matter; it is now over one month. We feel that the police are sleeping on their job. We feel that the government is involved in this matter and that is why it’s dragging its feet,” says Mr Mugambi.

Ms Makena says she is struggling to make ends meet and has not yet taken her children back to school due to lack of fees.

On the day the vehicle drove up to her home, two police officers known to them had approached the car and were informed that the three occupants were police officers working on a case, she says.

Unsatisfied, Mr Giteme got another police officer based at Maua, who pursued the vehicle up to Farm area on the Meru-Maua road, where the occupants of the car reportedly gave the same explanation.

“When he (Giteme) came back home, he appeared shaken, as if the police had told him something shocking. He was so disturbed, and did not even sleep at home that night. The children are crying, asking for their father. We are afraid of even going to the farm since we don't know what will happen to us. We are still waiting for the report from the government. We don't know whether they are dead or alive,” says Ms Makena.

Mr Mugambi says the family has been tormented with calls and they dutifully take the numbers to the police.

One such number had claimed that the three had been spotted at Shimo La Tewa maximum security prison but it turned out to be a hoax.

“We supplied the police with the name of the caller since he is known to us and even the phone number he is currently using, but it seems the police are not doing anything," he says.

The Igembe South security team led by area Deputy County Commissioner Joseph Sawe and sub-county police boss Henry Akango have remained tight-lipped on the matter.

They say they have not established the identity of the people in the surveillance car and called for calm.

"We also heard the allegations that there were people who claimed to be police officers and we are investigating the same. I urge the public to be patient as the investigation continues,” says Mr Sawe.