Thugs suspected to be policemen kill Norwegian missionary in Kisumu

By Rusdie Oudia
NAIROBI, KENYA: A Danish missionary was strangled to death in Kisumu County after four armed robbers suspected to be Administration Policemen raided his home.

Police managed to gun down three of the robbers while one fled the scene.

The suspect who fled including one of those gunned down are suspected to be Administration Police officers (Aps) who usually guard the Kisumu Pipeline Company next to Kisumu International Airport.

Nyanza Regional Coordinator Francis Mutie confirmed indeed that they were APs but had been deployed directly from Nairobi and therefore do not report to him.

The Danish, Kristensen Jan, 73, was among six people who in January 2000 met to consult over the construction of the first Jan's Academy Group of Schools.

The gang got into Jan’s compound at around 10 am and did not interfere with the watchman at the gate. As they entered, one of them, suspected to be Administration Police officer waited outside with a get-away car.

The three then proceeded to the old man’s house and ordered the workers to be silent as they wrestled the missionary on the floor.

Mutie said the thugs then asked for money from the deceased and when they were told there was none in the house, they started torturing him.

"His legs were tied using aluminum wire as the thugs strangled him to death despite the old man’s plea that he did not have any money," said Mutie.

On hearing the commotion, the watchman at the gate ran away and alerted one of the security firms around who later called the police.

The police opened fire on the thugs, killing three on the spot as one fled on foot. One of the shot dead gangsters was a nephew to Jan’s wife.

Mutie said the police were doing everything they could to arrest the AP who is still at large and is believed to be armed with an AK 47 rifle.

The thugs are suspected to have robbed the deceased’s Milimani offices two days ago and made away with phones and money from the employees.

Jan was not at his office on that particular day.The three bodies were taken to the Nyanza Provincial Hospital while the missionary’s body to Aga Khan Mortuary.

Jan has since witnessed four institutions being established under his name. Jan's ECD, Jan's Junior, Jan's Senior and Jan's Teachers Training College completed Jan's Academy Quadruple with the first intake of students in 2012.

The deceased is also the founder of International Fellowship of Kenya whose headquarters office is in Milimani Estate.
"They would have taken anything they wanted and let the missionary live instead of killing him," said one of the workers.