University students lynch man for stabbing girlfriend to death

A casual labourer killed his girlfriend, a Fourth Year Education student at the Egerton University, yesterday.

Using a kitchen knife, Hilary Nandasaba attacked Sharon Mmbone at their single-room house in Njokerio Estate, outside the university’s main campus in Njoro.

But the killer later succumbed to injuries after students and neighbours beat him. The couple’s three-month-old baby survived the murderous rage.

Their house had broken windows. Neighbours said their hear commotion Mmbone tried in vain to escape the wrath of her boyfriend.

The two started quarrelling at about 8pm before screams as the woman called for help rent the air.

Henrica Kasudi, a neighbour, rushed to her rescue but found the door locked from inside. “I could hear the boyfriend vowing to kill her together with the baby and I asked my neighbours to come help break the steel door,” said Ms Kasudi.

But they were too late. Nandasaba stabbed his lover and poured paraffin on the mattress where the baby lay, with intention of setting it on fire.

But the neighbours managed to rescue the baby.

The mob attacked Nandasaba and threatened to kill him. Witnesses said he attempted to chop off his private parts using the same knife he had killed the mother of his child with.

Police officers rescued him from the mob and rushed him to the university’s hospital located inside the institution. But the students blocked the entrance to the hospital, threatening to burn the ambulance. It was during the melee that the casual labourer dead.

Jonathan Kinuthia, a neighbour, said the couple had been having wrangles: “The two used to quarrel but Mmbone always kept to herself. She never disclosed her problems though she was attending lessons irregularly,” said Mr Kinuthia.

The bodies were taken to the Egerton University morgue awaiting postmortem, while the baby was handed over to grandparents.

A students’ leader Edwin Amisi called on police to improve their response time whenever a crime is reported.