Mr Dalmas Adwet Winyo, who was murdered on January 9 while leaving a local pub in Kiembeni, Mombasa county.

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Police probe death of political campaigner after night out

Detectives in Mombasa are investigating the case of a 31-year-old electrician who was killed after a night out drinking with friends.

Dalmas Adwet Winyo was killed on January 9 as he left a bar in Kachani, Kiembeni, Kisauni sub-county.

Mr Winyo (aka Rambo) had left his house at about 8pm that Sunday after a friend invited him to a nearby bar for a drink. The two were joined by more than five people.

Preliminary investigations indicate that a war of words ensued in the pub between the two friends and the other drinkers.

The two then left the club. But on their way home, they were attacked by at least five people that they had left at the bar.

Police say one of the attackers hit Mr Winyo with a bottle as another stabbed him with a knife in the neck, leaving him bleeding profusely.

As they fought, one of Mr Winyo’s friends left to seek help but when rescuers arrived at the scene they found him dead.

Following the fracas, Mr Moses Yeri surrendered to the police, telling them that he had been at the scene of the killing.

Mr Yeri was arraigned yesterday in a Shanzu court. Police asked for a detention order pending further investigations.

An affidavit from Aisha Maneno, who is attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kisauni, says Mr Yeri took part in the confrontation that led to the killing of Mr Winyo.

Still at large

Ms Maneno said Mr Yeri is a key suspect in the murder.

“After the incident, the suspect presented himself to Kiembeni police station, and confirmed to have engaged in a fight with the deceased together with his accomplices who are still at large,” she said.

The investigating officer told the court that the suspect was likely to interfere with investigations if released.

Police said the suspect had provided information that will lead to the arrest of more suspects.

Detectives are treating Mr Yeri as a key suspect, saying he gave police conflicting accounts of what transpired that night.

Mr Winyo’s family said the same friend who invited him for drinks had in 2019 made a similar invitation that also landed him in trouble.

In that incident, the two went to Pirates Beach in the evening and when police on patrol confronted them, his friend fled.

But Mr Winyo was arrested and charged with loitering on the beach. He was later released but this friend vanished.

Mr Winyo’s mother Christine Agunda told the Nation in an earlier interview that she was suspicious about the friend whose invitations had led to trouble on two different occasions.

Aspiring MCA

"This friend ran to call village elders instead of screaming for help or reporting to the police station, which is only a walking distance from the scene," Ms Agunda said.

Mr Winyo’s brother Randy Otieno said Mr Winyo was one of the chief campaigners of an MCA aspirant in the area.

Mr Otieno said his brother had met supporters of another candidate when a confrontation ensued.

“That’s when they stabbed him with a bottle. From the postmortem report that we have received, he had an 8mm cut in the neck. He also had cuts on his chest that caused his death,” he said.

Sources familiar with the investigations revealed that one of the suspects in the murder case is an aspiring MCA.

Police are also treating Mr Winyo’s friend who was with him when the fight broke out as a suspect because he was reluctant to provide investigators with crucial information on what transpired that day.

Investigators said the friend was not cooperating and was pretending to have forgotten what happened that night.

But detectives were relying on a key witness who served Mr Winyo and his attackers at the pub.