By Wairimu Kamande
There was jubilation in a Gatanga village three weeks ago when Stanley Njuguna died.
According to a relative, the community could no longer stand the 47-year-old man’s weird behaviour and they burnt him to death.
He says that on the night of his death, Njuguna was caught milking his stepbrother’s cow.
"For a number of days my uncle would find that his cow, which used to produce a lot milk, was no longer producing as much yet it was not sick," he recalls.
The suspicious farmer decided to investigate what was wrong with his cow. He enlisted the help of neighbours and relatives. Among those who volunteered to keep vigil was Njuguna.
Unaware that the others had just hidden in strategic places, Njuguna returned with his cans and began milking. Without warning the villagers were on him.
Lack of remorse
Unbowed, he brandished a machete at villagers who dared get close to him. This infuriated the vigilante members who descended on him with machetes and clubs and later set him on fire.
The relative however confesses that the theft of milk was not the actual cause of the lynching. It was the man’s lack of remorse. It was alleged that on many occasions he had defiled his own children, both boys and girls. His most recent crime against his children occurred in August.
Neighbours and relatives claim he sodomised his seven-year-old son, poisoned him and when he did not die immediately, strangled him to death and dumped the body in a well.
His wives had left him complaining of physical abuse and claiming that he often had sex with his daughters, resulting in one getting pregnant.
"I am ashamed to have been related to the man. He was trouble to his parents and siblings and had even battered his mother.
People had become so fearful of him that even relatives avoided sending their children to his home. He married five times but no woman lived with him for long," reveals the relative.
Under the bed
At the time of his death, the man is said to have confessed about killing his son but instead of being remorseful, he gloated; "Kill me if you feel like.
He was my child and I killed him myself! You can report it to the nearest police station," he dared them
The man is said to have been an alcoholic and would steal anything to quench his thirst for illicit brews. "He once stole arrow roots from a woman and hid them under his bed. The woman had harvested the produce to prepare food for her visitors," the relative recalls.
Confirming the incidence, Thika OCPD Patrick Mwakio described the dead man as a nuisance to the community.
