Volunteers carry a body of an unknown person retrieved, with seven others, from a dumpsite in Mukuru slums, in Nairobi, Kenya, July 12, 2024.
Although the police said they had cracked one of the country’s most shocking murder cases, residents of Kware questioned the announcement, claiming it was a ruse hatched to cover up the truth.
How this man managed to live amongst the people of Kware, a very densely populated area in Mukuru kwa Njenga, in Embakasi South Constituency, lured women, had sexual relations with some of them, and ended up killing, dismembering and disposing of their bodies without ever being noticed, remains a mystery to Mukuru residents.
For starters, residents told the Nation that they had never seen anyone resembling the man whose photo was shared by the DCI, and therefore could not know who the police had arrested.
Mukuru Social Justice Centre Coordinator Anami Ture said immediately DCI shared the photo, they contacted hundreds of locals using their social media platforms, including WhatsApp, but no one knew the alleged suspect.
"We are certain that by now, the person who was arrested is not known here in Kware. We are wondering who exactly that person is and we want the DCI to explain to us where they arrested him from," said Mr Ture.
Their claims made it difficult for the Nation team to locate the house of the man soon to be presented in court to answer to crimes most foul.
“We cannot help you trace the home of someone we have never seen. Neighbours would have heard or seen something suspicious and reported the matter,” a youth who only identified himself as Joe said.
People watch as volunteers retrieve bodies of unknown people from a dumpsite in Mukuru slums, in Nairobi, Kenya, July 12, 2024.
When contacted for details regarding the residence of the suspect, Embakasi sub-County Police Commander Wesley Kimetto Pledged to help this reporter to locate the exact location of Jomaisi's house. He was yet to get back at the time of going to Press.
Since the shacks in the slum are closely packed, they said they would have smelt the stench of decaying bodies that the man allegedly hid in his house before disposing of them at the dumpsite.
“No one knows who this man is. I am a local and an elder in this area and since the photo was released, not a single person living here in Kware or Mukuru knows this Collins that is being accused of committing these murders,” Mr Enock Adera told the Nation.
The mystery of the origins and residence of the suspect extended to his purported rural home in Shiru village, Hamisi, Vihiga County where residents as well as the local administration could not identify him.
Attempts by the Nation to trace his ancestral home turned into a wild goose chase, with the locals saying that they did not know much about the man who is reported to have worked as a boda boda operator in the region.
However, at Shamakhokho market, a woman who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of her security, attempted to identify the suspect through the circulated photos.
“He used to carry me on his motorbike from the market to my home over eight years ago,” she said.
However, she claimed that she did not know where the man came from.
“I would pick him occasionally at the market but I never bothered to ask him about his home,” she explained.
At Cheptulu and Shiru markets, residents could not identify the suspect both through the DCI photograph and the names provided.
“I have never seen him before. Maybe if you can show us a photo he took while he was young,” said Paul Chakenya.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Shaviringa Location chief Esther Likoche who said that she was yet to trace the suspect’s home.
“I have lived in this area for 18 years but I have not come across that surname in my area of jurisdiction,” she said.
Ms Likoche further said that she had circulated the information to all the assistant chiefs in the region and was expecting a positive feedback.
When asked by the media to provide another photo of the suspect during the press briefing, Mr Amin said doing so would “tamper with the investigations” but said the suspect would be presented in court.
The country’s top detective also dismissed claims that the police would never have discovered the dumped bodies had it not been for the dream that the family members of Josephine Mulongo Owino, one of the victims.
In their narration, two family members said that their kin, the late Josephine, appeared to them in a dream and told them that she was lying in the cold at the dumpsite.
This prompted the family to conduct a search at the scene and in doing so, stumbled upon several other bodies.
"We are not dreamers, we do not believe in dreaming. Even before Josephine prophesied, we had our work cut out for us," he said.
Additional report by Victor Raballa and Ouko Okusah
