Suspected Mungiki adherent in gun drama in Kirinyaga County

KIRINYAGA COUNTY: Police were forced to fire several gunshots to smoke out a suspected Mungiki follower from his hideout, after he allegedly attempted to kill his wife and two sons.

The suspect, who has been in self-exile since 2009 after the criminal gang was pushed out of Kirinyaga County, was reported to have resurfaced at his Ithareini village home recently.

The man is said to have picked a quarrel with his wife whom he abandoned with two children while in hiding.

Witnesses said the quarrel escalated and almost turned tragic after he allegedly started chasing his wife and the children while wielding a machete. The wife escaped leaving the children at his mercy.

“On failing to catch up with his wife, he turned on his Standard Two first-born son. He almost caught him were it not for the quick action of teachers from a nearby private school,” said John Gichira, a witness.

The teachers locked the boy inside a classroom, forcing the father to go for the other child.

Residents rushed to the boy’s rescue and locked him in a neighbour’s house.

His father, a trader at the local market had in the meantime contacted Administration Police Officers from the nearby Ngekenyi Chief’s camp. When the officers arrived, they found the suspect locked in a house, threatening to kill anyone who dared to enter the house.

BABY THEFT

The officers told him to surrender but when he became adamant, they shot into the house and managed to smoke him out.

Meanwhile, Police in Kirinyaga East sub-county are holding a woman suspected to have been involved in theft of newborns.

The woman was arrested last Saturday at Kimbimbi Level Four hospital where she had taken the week-old infant for treatment.

“Medics at the facility became suspicious when the woman failed to breastfeed the child, forcing them to alert our officers,” said the sub-county OCPD Titus Yoma.

Mr Yoma said the woman was also past child-bearing age.