Forty brothers blamed for sporadic attacks in Butere

75-year-old Dorcas Khakayi at Mwichinga Village in Butere Kakamega County whose 30-year-old son Mosses Ekodongo (in the portrait) was butchered in cold blood last month. A group of youth calling themselves the '42 brothers' have unleashed terror in the villages resulting in killings where victims are found slaughtered but nothing stolen. [Chrispen Sechere/Standard]

A gang calling itself Forty Two Brothers has been terrorising villages in Butere constituency for months now, leaving a trail of death and pain in its wake.

The gang has killed at least 12 people and injured 40 others in the last two months.

Whenever it has struck, the gang, whose members are said to be between 15 and 25 years old, has left behind a common calling card: bodies with tongues, genitals and eyes ripped out.

Those who have survived the savage attacks have been left nursing life-threatening injuries.

What has left many villagers baffled is the impunity with which the attacks have been executed.

“The Forty Two Brothers are so daring. Recently they killed a woman barely 100 metres from Butere Police Station. Five months before that, they killed six people, including a village elder,” said Henry Aluhaba, the Butere sub-county community policing chairman.

Those killed had their throats slit and their bodies dumped close to their homesteads.

Gilbert Luta Jamuoma, 31, was killed in Munyanza at around 10.30pm on September 27.

Funeral vigil

Neighbours on their way home from a funeral vigil called his father, Fanuel Jamuoma, 65, to tell him that they had found the body of his older son dumped along the Sabatia-Butere road.

The way the casual labourer had been killed stunned his father.

“His throat had been slit and his tongue was missing. His eyes had been gouged out, he had deep cuts on the chest, forehead and back, his spinal cord had been severed,” recounted Mr Jamuoma.

Also missing were seven of Luta’s teeth. Strangely, nothing was stolen from him.

Police told Jamuoma that Luta had been killed elsewhere and his body dumped near their homestead.

A suspect was arrested but released a day later. To date, no one has been charged with the killing and the case has gone cold.

“What we want is justice for our son, not police asking us for money before they can take the case to full trial,” said Luta’s mother, Phyllis Jamuoma.

Another victim of the gang, 30-year-old Moses Ekedogo, who was a mechanic and tout at Sabatia bus stage, disappeared on August 15. His body was found four days later, stuffed inside a sack, barely 500 metres from his home.

A postmortem revealed that he had been strangled, his manhood removed and acid poured on his hands and face.

According to Mr Ekedogo’s mother, Dorcus Anjawa, 75, he had been attacked inside the homestead two weeks earlier by two young men who accused him of refusing to buy them alcohol.

Attackers disappeared

When the family raised the alarm, the attackers disappeared into the darkness after warning him of dire consequences.

Six suspects were arrested and later released on police bond. Almost three months later, no one has been charged with the killing of the father of one.

In Eshiyiro village, Josephine Amaye, 28, a security guard at a local hospital, was killed at 6am on August 14, on her way to work.

Her father, Patrick Amaye, suspects that Josephine must have crossed paths with the gang members on their way home from another night of terror.

“They stabbed her twice in the back and once in the chest. They also hit her on the head with a blunt object before slitting her throat and gouging out her eyes,” said her father.

Josephine was killed just 100 metres from the family homestead. Her body was discovered by neighbours heading to work.

To date, no suspects have been arrested in connection with the killing.

In Mulwanda village, Eshinamwinyuli location, Shaban Masakhwe, 41, was heading home at around 10pm on September 7.

He had just attended a funeral vigil barely 250 metres away when the gang confronted him. His father found him lying in a pool of blood moments later.

“They had half-slit his throat and hit him on the forehead. They also fractured his left hand,” said Sale Maloba.

Mr Masakhwe was still breathing when he was found, but died a few hours later.

Residents who have survived attacks tell the story of a brutal gang of young men high on alcohol and drugs.

One survivor who refused to reveal his name for fear of retaliation was attacked in Shatsala on his way home from work at around 7.30pm on September 5.

By the time villagers came to his rescue, the gang had broken his left hand and three teeth.

Another survivor said she was gang-raped by three young men barely 500 metres from her home in Eshinamwinyuli village.

She said knew her assailants’ identities but was too terrified to go to the authorities.

Numerous leads

Police have not been able to identify the gang members, leading to accusations of laxity from the villagers, who say they have provided numerous leads.

The residents said the attacks were spreading to Mumias West, Mumias East and Khwisero sub-counties. Villages that have come under attack include Bululwe, Eshinamwinyuli, Shatsala, Shirumba, Emabole, Mwichinga, Sabatia and Esitsakha.

“Relatives of the victims don’t follow up the cases out of fear of victimisation from the gang. Others are afraid of volunteering information to the police because they suspect they (police) leak it to the gang,” said Mr Aluhaba.

So far, suspects who have been arrested in connection with the attacks have been released without charges. Some of them are said to be secondary school students, matatu touts and boda boda operators.

Wiped out

However, County Police Commander Johana Tunoi denied the existence of the Forty Two Brothers, saying the gang was wiped out years ago.

Mr Tunoi blamed soaring crime in the area to the brewing and consumption of illicit liquor.

“We have deployed regular and Administration Police officers to the area. We have mapped out affected areas and some arrests have been made,” he said. The police commander also warned bar owners in Butere sub-county against selling contraband alcohol.

“These bars are the hideouts for criminals; we are sparing nobody in our raids,” he said.

Tunoi appealed to residents to volunteer information, promising this would be treated as confidential.