Lawyer Willie Kimani's client Josphat Mwenda dropped out of secondary school in Form Two due to lack of fees.
His elder brother, Edward Mugambi, 34, paid Mr Mwenda's school fees when the latter was in Ng'onya Primary School and Rompo Secondary School but stopped when he got married. Mwenda, last-born in a family of eight, then turned to his cousin who owned motorcycles in Syokimau for help.
Before he met his death, Mwenda was working for his cousin Patrick Gituma. He leaves behind a wife and a two-and-a-half-year-old baby.
When Mwenda's parents separated, his mother took them with her but died in 2002. Mwenda then went to live with his sister, Fatuma Mwende.
"When I got married I could no longer afford his upkeep so I talked with my cousin Patrick Gituma who had a boda boda in Syokimau. Mwenda joined him there where after a one-month course, Gituma employed him," a tearful Mugambi said Thursday.
After working and living with his cousin for several months, Mwenda move out. He met Rebecca Wanja, who he married.
Mwenda, who comes from Marimanti in Tharaka Nithi, was hailed as a hard-working, and respectful youth who never wronged anyone.
"He was just a young man working hard to fend for his family and it is really sad that he had to meet his death so brutally. The murderers must be apprehended and brought to book for cutting short the future of a determined youth," said Chuka Igamba'ngombe MP Muthomi Njuki.
The MP said those who committed the heinous act must be punished.
"As a community we are lost for words, and demanding justice. He was a young man who had gone through a lot of suffering in his childhood, but was determined to change his life for the better," the lawmaker added.
Mwenda will be buried in Marimanti on Monday.
