I left Mathare for a robbery mission in Machakos, the mob poured petrol on me!

Reformed gangster Jefferson Muthee Ng’ang’a was on top of the world. He left his mother, wife and child at home in Mathare slums with a promise of returning with “lots of goodies”.

He was strapped with a Ceska pistol, a well-laid plan for a heist and a getaway strategy.

All this failed him.

His crime spree in Machakos county – 64 km away from his home – went awry after he was caught. Mr Muthee was at the mercy of an angry mob baying for his blood. His 40 days were up.

“When they started beating me up, no one knew that I was armed with a gun. I tried my best to hide it even as they poured petrol on me.  Luckily, police officers came to my rescue,” Mr Muthee told Nairobi News, reminiscing about the events of March 26, 2012.

Four days before that day, Mr Muthee was amongst a gang that cornered a police officer identified as Mr Silas Koech Kiptoo and made away with his firearm, a Ceska pistol that was loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition.

This happened on March 22, 2012, at the Muthaiga drift, which is located along the busy Thika Superhighway in Nairobi County.

Details filed in court which led to his imprisonment reveal that the gang attacked the officer and also made away with the officer’s certificate of appointment, his national identity card, a mobile phone and Sh 2,500.

Speaking to Nairobi News, Mr Muthee said that he was the one who noticed that the officer was armed and after they took the gun, he asked to be the first to use it because he said he had a mission.

“In my lifetime apart from Mathare slums the other place I have ever visited is Machakos County and I decided that I will head there with the firearm in a robbery mission,” said the reformed gangster.

Read: Pop culture crime icons: The death of fierce killer cops, Hessy, Saigon Punisher and Black widow

On the day he left for Machakos, he never told the mother to his daughter where he was heading but assured her that he would come back in the evening with lots of goodies.

He then arrived at Malla Village and his first victim was Mr John Mwinzi Kilonzo.

According to court documents, he stole “one mobile phone; make Nokia Model 1110, valued at Sh2,500 and immediately after the time of assault wounded the said John Mwinzi Kilonzo.”

After harming Mr Kilonzo, he went ahead and attacked Ms Mercy Nthambi Mulwa and took off with her Nokia phone, one handbag and Sh2,000. He again was violent with the lady.

He also attacked two other ladies identified as Ms Damaris Wayua Musee and Ms Tina Mwikali Musee before he was cornered by members of the public who beat him up and were in the process of burning him alive when police officers arrived and saved him from a fiery grave.

Read: Horror as Kitengela woman is burned to death in suspected crime of passion

Court documents in our possession reveal that the incident took place at 4 pm and all his victims were together when he attacked them.

Mr Kilonzo told the court that on the day, he was heading home when he met with the three ladies who offered to engage him to undertake construction work near the area.

“Ms Mwikali had bought a farm in the area and on that day, she then asked the other ladies to go and accompany her to see the farm. While there, she was looking for a farmhand when Mr Muthee appeared out of nowhere and ordered all four of them to give him their phones, a demand they all complied with,” the court documents read in part.

At the time Mr Muthee was dressed in a cap that only exposed his eyes and was armed with a gun.