Thugs break into Nyeri Speaker's house, attack guard

Nyeri County Assembly Speaker John Kaguchia. [Kibata Kihu/Standard]

A sharp rise in crime has rocked Nyeri town and its environs.

The latest victim of the crime wave is Nyeri County Assembly Speaker John Kaguchia (pictured), whose house in King’ong’o Estate was invaded by armed thugs yesterday.

The night guard, the only person present during the attack, was assaulted and robbed of his phone and cash.

The Speaker and his family were away in Nairobi, where he was scheduled for an interview with a local TV station this morning. Nothing was stolen.

Boniface Wambugu, the guard, said the thugs arrived at the residence at around 2am and knocked the gate. “They asked who lived in the house. I told them the house belonged to a pastor and not Speaker Kaguchia,” he said.

The guard said a man then grabbed him by the neck through an opening on the gate and ordered him to open it.

The men, he said, demanded for keys to a motorcycle and a car parked in the compound.

He said the man then assaulted and bundled him into a waiting car, where two other men demanded for his mobile phone, cash and information about the Speaker.

“I told them I did not know who he (the Speaker) was and did not have any money. They asked me to call someone and ask them to send me money. They were threatening me with a gun and beating me with an iron rod,” he said.

The men then drove away and dumped the guard on the Nyeri–Nanyuki highway. Central Regional Police Commander Francis Munyambu on Monday said police would arrest the culprits.

At the same time, a man is recuperating in hospital after he was shot by gunmen who broke into his house in Nyeri Town on Sunday night. The man, a hotel manager, is admitted at Outspan Hospital.

Residents of Chaka have also complained about a rise in violent, early-evening mugging incidents.