Tale of rape, murder, two lynched suspects and a village on police radar

It started with the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl, then the abduction and mob lynching of two suspects.

Now, the entire Empatipat Village is on the spot over the murder.

Police officers have, for the past three days, camped in the village, trying to find out who lynched the two men and burnt their bodies.

Narok County Commander Kizito Mutoro says that already four people have been arrested - three men and a woman.

The chain of events started on October 13 when Mercy Silau Pareyio, 17, was stabbed more than five times, her head crushed with a blunt object; one of the eyes gouged out, and her private parts severed. She was reportedly gang-raped before the gruesome murder.

According to the teenager’s father Alex Pareyio, the men who raped and killed Mercy had been chatting with her on social media. They had not met before.

“One of the men lured her with several promises. One of them said that he works as a police officer in Njoro and was ready to marry her. The day she left home, she eloped with the man,” said Mr Pareyio.

He said that his daughter packed all her belongings and left at night in the hope that the man was going to marry her.

“When we woke up in the morning, her four brothers and sister told us that she fled home the previous night and that they did not know where she had gone to,” he said.

That same morning, other villagers reported that they had found the body of a woman in the forest near Sansora farm. They called police and the body was taken to Egerton University Hospital mortuary in Njoro.

“We did not think the body could be that of our daughter until we reported to Mwisho wa Lami Police Station that she was missing. The officers advised us to go to the mortuary and see the body that had been recovered from the forest. We were shocked to learn that she was the one who had been murdered,” said Mr Pareyio.

Irate villagers then traced one Dennis Kireu alias Mwangi to a home in Rotiani, where he worked a casual labourer. They cornered the suspect, bundled him into a vehicle and drove him to Tipis trading centre.

Lynch mob

Police say the residents forced the suspect to show them where his purported accomplices were hiding and he took them to the home of one Robert Njoroge Ng’ang’a.

“The crowd, numbering over 30, forcibly broke into the house by cutting the iron sheet roofing. They nabbed the suspect and drove him, together with Mwangi, to GK area, Olorropil where they lynched them. The lynch mob then burnt their bodies,” police said.

A police officer attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Njoro said that records from the girl’s social media accounts showed that Mwangi had been in constant communication with her and that they had agreed to meet on the day she was murdered.

“But this is not to say that the people who were lynched were the ones who murdered the girl. That is what we are still investigating,” the officer said.

Residents said that they took the law into their hands due to police laxity in arresting the suspects, even after being given several leads.

By Sunday evening, armed police officers were still combing the villages in search of the more than 30 youths who lynched the two suspects. The two who were arrested on Saturday were released on a Sh30,000 police bond each.

Meanwhile, Mr Pareiyo has asked police to expedite investigations into the murder of his daughter, saying she was a respectful and bright child who had a promising future.

“She was everything a parent wanted in a child. She was obedient and loved education. She wanted to become a doctor and was passionate about it,” the grieving father said.