Suspected thugs arrested while seeking treatment in Thika hospital

A suspect who was arrested while seeking treatment at Thika Level 5 hospital.He is suspected to have been among a gang that raided the home of a KDF soldier in Kandara,Murang'a County where they allegedly killed him,injured his mother and wife before escaping without stealing anything.PHOTO BY KAMAU MAICHUHIE.

A Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldier was murdered by six armed men who raided his home in Kandara, Murang’a County.

Daniel Chege, who according to relatives had just returned to the country from Somalia, was murdered by about six thugs who broke into his house in Kiguoya village.

But in a strange turn of events, two people - suspected to be part of the gang - were nabbed hours later while seeking treatment at the same health facility as the slain soldier’s wife and mother.

It is understood Chege had managed to seriously injure several of the attackers before they finally hit him on the head with a blunt object, killing him instantly.

The criminals also injured his wife, Mary Wambui, and mother, who were also in the house, before fleeing without stealing anything.

Relatives said Chege, 33, a father of two who was based in Kahawa Barracks, had previously survived two Al Shabaab attacks.

“It is very sad that he miraculously survived two Al shabaab attacks in Somalia only to come home and be killed by thugs,” said a relative.

Relatives said the thugs took advantage of a downpour that night to attack the family.

Heavy rains

“It was raining heavily and no one could hear the commotion in the neighbourhood.The victims could also not call for help since their cellphones had been taken by the thugs. It is after everything had settled down that the wife managed to crawl to her grandfather’s house, a few metres away, to seek help,” said Ann Wachege - an aunt to the slain soldier.

After the rain subsided, neighbours rushed Wambui and her mother-in-law to Thika Level 5 Hospital for treatment.

As they were being attended to at the casualty, an ambulance from Ruiru came in with two casualties who needed immediate medical attention.

To her shock, Wambui noticed one of the two young suspects being brought in had wrapped his belly with her sweater.

She also noted that the other one accomplice had ‘bandaged’ his injuries with her mother-in-law’s bed sheet and had Chege’s army bag’s strip strapped around his wrist.

Wambui then alerted the nurses who secretly called the police. They came and apprehended the two.

“We hope justice will prevail. What they did was inhuman. They took away the love of my life and I do not know how I will cope without him,” she said.

According to doctors from a hospital in Ruiru, the two had first gone there claiming to have been attacked by thugs in Githurai and the second one alleging he had been involved in a motorcycle accident.

The first suspect believed to hail from Kiandutu slums, had his belly split open and his intestines were falling out.

Arrest made

This is why he was using Wambui’s sweater to hold them in.

His accomplice was treated and taken to Kandara Police Station for questioning. Along with him were too young girls who were overheard by curious wananchi talking about the suspects.

Wambui, who had a few bruises and a fracture on her leg and arm, was treated and discharged while her mother-in-law, who had a fracture on her right hand and skull, was admitted for further medical examination.

The body of the fallen soldier was later transferred by his colleagues to the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi.