Nyamira teacher murder: Police arrest two suspects
Mr Ezekiel Nkeere Gitangwa, 47, whose mutilated body was found hidden in a Nyamira nurse's house on January 1, 2022
Police in Nyamira have arrested two people suspected to be involved in the heinous murder of Ezekiel Nkeere, a primary school teacher.
The two, a man and a woman, were arrested on Thursday.
And on Friday, they were arraigned at the Nyamira High Court as police sought to have them detained for 14 days, pending investigations. The request was granted.
Nyamira County Police Commander Mr James Mitugo said the suspects are from Nyamaiya centre, where a nurse who is at the centre of the incident hails from.
He said the two suspects are assisting them with investigations.
“The lady is an M-Pesa operator and the other is a young man whose phone was used to withdraw money. Money was sent from the deceased’s phone to the young man,” said Mr Mitugo.
He explained that instead of money being withdrawn through M-Pesa, the female suspect told them that it was sent via an Equity Bank account.
The mutilated body of Mr Nkeere, a head teacher at Getengereirie Primary School in Nyamira County was found in a house belonging to the missing nurse on Sunday.
The nurse, whom police are treating as the main suspect in the murder of the 47-year-old teacher, is still at large.
The arrest of the nurse will help shed light on the motive of the murder and if more people were involved.
Preliminary investigations
Preliminary investigations indicate that thousands of shillings were withdrawn from the teacher's phone during his last hours alive.
The teacher may have been lured to his death, police said.
Nyamira South Sub County Criminal Investigations Officer Paul Makonge on Monday said they were trying to establish whether Nkeere walked into a trap and who else could have been involved in his murder.
“We wanted to confirm whether the teacher voluntarily took himself there, we established that he called a boda boda rider who took him there,” said Mr Makonge.
Mr Nkeere went missing on December 30, 2022, before his body was found hidden in a poultry house. The body was covered with a carpet.
Police had to break into the house of the Nyamaiya Health Centre-based nurse to access the body. The health worker was not in the house.
Mr Nkeere had all limbs chopped off. Some plastic bags were found next to his mutilated body, which had many items placed on it.
Security officers have appealed to the nurse to surrender to the nearest police station.
Members of the public are angry
“The nurse is safer in the hands of the police than out there, members of the public are angry,” said Mr Makonge.
He urged the residents to remain patient as the police carry out their investigations.
“We have secured the house for investigation and we are calling on members of the public to be patient as we continue with the probe into the murder of the teacher,” said Mr Makonge.
"We received a report from the teacher's wife Gladys Bonareri Achoki that her husband was missing," read a police report.
Police explained that when a report of a missing person was made, they started investigations after the elapse of 24 hours.
“We tried to locate where he could have been last seen because his phone was switched off. We established that his last location was in a building in Kisii town before his phone was switched off,” said Mr Makonge.
The DCI officer said the teachers had hired a boda boda rider to take him to Egesieri village in West Mugirango constituency, Nyamira County.
