Esther Wambui holds a portrait of her late husband, Joseph Kibugu, who was assaulted by his two siblings and died a month ago in Gichocho village, Murang’a County, on August 14, 2024.
Mr Jamleck Nduati,74, painfully recalls how he lost two sons in less than 12 hours on July 10.
He accuses the police of conspiring to have one of the sons--who the mobs picked from a police station's cells--murdered.
"Police say that the mob stoned six police officers attached to Gachocho police patrol base and after the officers ran away, Mr Stephen Maina,48, was plucked from the cells and murdered," he said.
"That was not the case, police conspired with the mobs and deliberately handed him out to be murdered by being stoned."
Scarier was that were it not for the intervention of neighbours, the killer mob would have raided his home to kill him, his wife Rosalinda Wanjiru,70, and his son aged 39 years.
"The air was pregnant with mob lynch evil spirit. It was the day I hated the time my two sons started taking alcohol. It was alcohol that led me to lose two of them and the three of us escaping death by a whisker," he narrated to Nation.Africa on August 14, 2024, at their Gachocho home in Murang'a County.
Trouble started at around 10pm on July 9, 2024, when Mr Nduati's three sons--Maina, Mr Joseph Kibugu 45, and Mr Benjamin Mwangi 39-- quarrelled and started fighting.
Mzee Jamlick Nduati and his wife, Roseline Wanjiru, recount the devastating loss of their two sons, Joseph Kibugu and Stephen Maina, a month ago in Gichocho village, Murang’a County, on August 14, 2024.
"Trouble was that Maina and his brother Mwangi--who was still a bachelor--were drunk and they raided the home of their brother, Mr Kibugu who was born again Christian," he said.
Mr Kibugu's wife, Ms Esther Wambui, says it was around 10pm when the two brothers forcibly entered her table room where her husband was with their three children.
"They had truncheons and set about beating my husband. Together with my children, we started screaming. They beat up my husband in turns until he went unconscious," she said.
"It was about 11pm when the two left my house, leaving my husband for dead. It was about midnight when I lost hope of my husband regaining consciousness and I searched for transport to take him to the hospital."
She says that the two brothers attempted to block her from taking her husband to the hospital, forcing officers from the police post about 80 metres from her compound to fire three times into the air.
"The gunshots made the two brothers run away and we reached Muriranjas hospital at around 1am. The hospital's digital registration systems were down and there was no available ambulance to effect a referral to Murang'a Level Five hospital," she said.
At around 2am, her husband breathed her last, and was moved to Muriranjas hospital mortuary.
At about 8am, Mr Maina was arrested while idling at the Gachocho market centre and moved to the nearby police patrol base.
At around 2pm, more than 100 youths raided the patrol base, and reportedly hurled stones at the police officers, who ran away, leaving Miana unguarded and he was murdered in cold blood.
In less than 12 hours, Mr Nduati and his wife Wanjiru had lost two sons, while the third had gone into hiding.
"The mobs came to my house during the night saying they were searching for Mr Mwangi. Youths the age of my grandsons entered our bedroom and upturned everything in search of my only surviving son," Ms Wanjiru lamented.
Mr Nduati said when it was apparent that their lives were also in danger, "It was our neighbours who warned the mobs that they were pushing their luck to unprecedented levels.
The mobs left with a stern warning that they would get back to search for Mr Mwangi.
Since then, after the two brothers were jointly buried on July 19 in a ceremony where no obituary was read, no suspect has ever been arrested.
Mr Nduati is a bitter man and insists his son Maina did not deserve to die while in legal custody.
"That was police complacency. He was indeed a suspect in the death of his brother and already he had been arrested. The National Police Service is responsible for his death," he said.
He said the matter of his two sons attacking their brother who died was bad.
"Those who murdered him are known, it was a pathetic action, they stoned him to death...and more than a month later no investigations have been concluded to attribute culpability.""
Mr Maina's widow, Ms Mary Wangari said, "The murder of my husband in the hands of police officers shocked me to a point I will never understand what people term as security."
She said her confidence in police was rocked and unless those who participated in that murder are apprehended and charged, she and her three children will never heal.
Ms Wanjiru termed Maina's murder in a police compound as "planned... a joint venture between the society and the police...Investigations have delayed and this marks what Muranga county has of late become-- home to anarchy."
According to Mr Edwin Kagucia who is a resident, the officers handed Maina over to the mobs.
"The station is not a kiosk. It has grills and it has metallic doors. There was no overrunning, it was a murder plot where there was consensus that he should die and the officers readily gave him out," he said.
He said Mr Maina and Mr Mwangi were known troublemakers who were a security threat owing to their violent nature to a point the society grabbed the opportunity that availed itself to hit back.
When Nation.Africa visited the patrol base, the deceased's blood stains were still unwashed from the walls, despite it still being in use.
Apart from broken window panes, there was no evidence of any broken door of the five available.
Kigumo Sub County police boss Mr Kiprono Tanui termed the incident as unfortunate.
"Two of our police vehicles were extensively damaged. The residents were highly charged, presenting us with logistical problems...they overran the station through violence," he said.
Mr Tanui said, "Sincerely speaking by the look of how the situation was; my officers tried hard to keep the situation normal and manageable but were overpowered."
But advocate of the High Court Mr Timothy Mwangi questioned how a police patrol base held on to a murder suspect where the scene was about 80 metres away.
"A police post is not supposed to run cells...cells are gazetted and those of police posts are not. They are only supposed to hold suspects in transit to a police station. This suspect who was murdered had been in those cells up to 2pm while hostilities started to build at 9am," he said.
Mr Mwangi said, "Logistical and safety negligence from the officers greatly influenced the tragic murder of Mr Maina."
As the debate rages, Mr Kibugu's widow wants Mr Mwangi who is still on the run arrested and charged in court.
"Mr Mwangi is the only surviving suspect in my husband's murder. He should face justice. Again, those who murdered Mr Maina in a police compound must also face justice. We all need justice so that we can heal and get closure," she said.
Mr Tanui said, "Beneath the storm are serious investigations going on and the moment we are through, certainly there will be suspects to be charged."
Mr Tanui denied that "my officers are guilty of perpetuating the culture of anarchy...it is not the case and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are on these two murder cases."
Ms Wanjiru urged the youths to adopt the culture of the fear of God.
"Youngsters, hear me as your grandmother. Invest your lives in the fear of God. That is the only place you will find solace. It is lack of that fear that we are going through this agony," she said.
Mr Nduati says he had done what a genuine parent can do to bring up all his five children in disciplined ways.
"But embracing alcohol and violence led two of them astray to the point they fatally attacked their brother. The result is the tears we cry, a widowhood of two women and six children aged between six and 17 years without their fathers," he said.
[email protected]
