Mystery surrounds death of young man in Utawala

On the evening of December 28, James Reagan Wanga left their house to see the progress of their play station enterprise at a nearby cyber cafe shop in Utawala area.

About four hours later, James known to the family as Jimmy was attacked, and later died.

“I found him lying in a pool of blood with several deep cuts on his head. Some blood was also oozing from both mouth and nose, and his body was badly bruised, an indication he had been dragged on rough ground,” begins his aunt, Margaret Mukhebi during the interview at their residence in Utawala.

Margaret who has lived with Jimmy since he was in class three reveals that a police officer identified as Chege called him using the deceased phone number.

She says: “The officer called me after being notified by members of the public of young man who had been attacked, beaten and left for the dead.”

Now three days after his death, the family is yet to come to terms with Jimmy’s death, but also unravel the riddle surrounding his death.

They are yet to identify the strange lady mentioned by the eyewitness to have been involved in their son’s death.

At the time of his death, Jimmy, 20 was a second year student at Kenyatta University, pursuing BA in Economics. He scored an A- in Musingu High before joining Kenyatta University.

When the Standard visited the family, his mother Roseline Ogutu had just arrived from Tanzania where she works. However, the grieving mother could not hold any interview.

Play station

Jimmy and his cousin Melvin Mukhebi (son to Margaret) owned a play station that Margaret bought them as a reward for their hard work in studies. Melvin is also a student of Computer Science at KU.

A friend who owned a cyber cafe has been hosting them, where they charged those who came to play the games.

On the fateful day, Jimmy left the house to relieve his cousin who had been manning the play station since noon.

“I had been taking care of the play station since 12 noon, and Jimmy came here at 7pm to relieve me. I left him and went home,” explains Melvin.

Margaret says Melvin arrived in the house few minutes after 7pm. She asked him where Jimmy was and he replied was left in charge of play station and would be back later.

“Since l was tired, went to bed early aware he would be back any time before 10pm as was their tradition,” says Margaret who works at State House.

Some times after 10pm, she got a call from a police officer who told him to go identify the boy had been attached.

She went and took him to a nearby St. Bakhita hospital, where he was treated and stitched of his wounds. But, Jimmy died while being taken to Nairobi hospital for specialized treatment that night.

The incident was reported at Mawe Mbili Police Post under the OB 22/12/2017. The report indicates he was killed by mob justice.