Family demands justice for sick kin lynched as chief watched

The late Peter Oyoo, who is alleged to have been killed in the presence of acting chief at Urudi village in Nyakach Kisumu county.

Peter Oyoo Nyawara had just left hospital and was staggering home when he was lynched by a mob in Nyakach, Kisumu County.

A frail Nyawara pleaded with his attackers and even produced his national Identity Card and medical records but the mob would hear none of that as they claimed he was a thief.

The area chief watched helplessly as villagers stoned the sick man. He later claimed the crowd was huge and he could not dissuade them from lynching Nyawara.  The family of the deceased is now is seeking justice. Kisumu County Commissioner Pauline Dola has launched investigations in the incident.

Ms Dola has asked Nyakach sub-county commissioner to file a report in response to a redress letter by the family dissatisfied with the manner in which the local administration was handling the matter.

Tears flowed freely during the burial of the father of three, as area MP Aduma Owuor joined calls for justice.

Nyawara’s widow Eunice Akoth and brothers Daniel Ojwang and Solomon Nyawara, said he was undergoing treatment at Avenue Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi. They said he met his death after alighting from a Homa Bay-bound bus at around 5am.

A report from the hospital said he escaped from the isolation ward, after accumulating bills, and was reportedly in a delirium when he reported to his Nairobi house before he left for upcountry. Dr Paul Wangai said the deceased was admitted to hospital with a suspected case of TB, diarrhea and vomiting.

Nyawara was reported missing from the facility on May 6 at around midnight and left for Kisumu barely an hour later, according to his wife.

He is said to have alighted at Lisana, about two kilometres from Uridi centre, where he would have taken a motorbike to Rang’ul.

“One of the children in Nairobi told me that he had gone to the house looking a little confused, took a jacket and left. When I finally reached him on the phone, he was on a bus on the way home. I only later learnt that he had been accosted after a family in Lisana raised alarm when he stumbled into their home,” narrated Akoth.

Luckily, she said, one of those who responded to the distress call was the Lisana area assistant chief Maurice Nyang’oro. He handed over Nyawara to the chief.

“They questioned him and scrutinised his national identity and the job identity. When they realised he was from Rang’ul they handed him over to the Chief at Urudi market. We do not understand what happened next but the chief was at the scene where he was beaten to death when we got there at about 6am,” she said, fighting back tears.

When reached for a comment, the Chief Mr Alosi said he was overpowered by the mob that was claiming the man was a thief.

“It is true he was brought to me but the mob was baying for his blood on suspicion of burglary, so I called police but by the time they got to the scene, he had been lynched,” he said.

The family however reads foul play since the said police station is barely two kilometres away from the scene of the incident yet the officers only came to collect the body at around 8am.

“Why wasn’t he lynched when the assistant chief responded to the distress call?” wondered the widow.