Police abetting gang's extra judicial killings

By Crimes, Courts and Investigations reporter

The audacity with which a community-policing group is executing suspects has raised questions over police complicity in the crimes.

The vigilante group was established to assist police in identifying criminals and to curb escalating crime in Kisii but is now causing jitters for going beyond its mandate. The murder of four men last week in Kisii has raised concern over the continued brutal murders by the dreaded sungu sungu vigilante group.

Suspected criminals are executed ruthlessly and residents dare not raise a finger for fear of reprisals. Many suspects, and even provincial administrators, have been banished by the group on mere suspicion of criminal activity.

Stern warning

The beheaded bodies of Jeremiah Bogonko, Dominic Obondi and Pascalis Onyinge were found in the morning at Nyasore along the Kisii-Kisumu road. The trio were rounded up from a funeral meeting by the gang that casually told other mourners to proceed with their activities.

And the body of Evans Siko Ogamba was found 400 metres from his home at Bumbura village, five kilometres from the scene where the other three were discovered. In what locals described as typical sungu sungu ‘style’ of execution, the hands were tied at the back and the severed legs left next to the head.

Five days after the killings, anonymous leaflets were circulated in the village warning families of the deceased men not to bury ‘criminals’ near home or face dire consequences.

"Bodies of criminals should be buried in Government cemeteries. Any attempts to bury them at home will be tantamount to massive loss of lives and destruction of properties and we mean every word," read the leaflets in part.

Surrender weapons

"The remaining and runaway criminals should surrender plus their weapons to the nearest law enforcement officers or else we will be after their necks. We advocate for a crime free society and it should start from you," said the leaflets pinned on trees.

But Eastern Nyanza Regional Commissioner Mrs Lydiah Muriuki said nobody should stop relatives from burying their kin.

"If people receive threats, they should report to the nearest administrator," she said.

The family of Siko Ogamba (inset) who was executed by a vigilante group in Marani District, Kisii County. [PHOTOS:Standard]

"We have a community-policing group that is legal. It was formed by members of the community to help combat crime but people confuse them with the so called sungu sungu," Mrs Muriuki told CCI. Families of murdered suspects have in the past interred the remains at the Kisii Cemetery but it is now closed for lack of space.

The brutal and spine chilling murders came two days after unidentified thugs shot dead 84-year-old cleric, Rev Michael Nyakundi, in the same sub location. The gang accused the murdered men of killing the clergyman and having illegal weapons. However, the families of the deceased men tell a different story.

"My husband has never been involved in any criminal activity. He only engaged in his welding business after graduating from the National Youth Service. Now these people are threatening us yet they took my husband’s life as I watched," says Mrs Phyllis Gesare Siko, wife to Siko Ogamba amid sobs.

Her four children exchange smiles and play apparently unaware they will not see their father again. According to Mrs Gesare, a gang of about 10 men stormed their home on September 19, at 11.30 pm and broke the door claiming they were policemen.

They tied Siko’s hands on the back with a string before ransacking the house apparently searching for a gun. "They carried axes and pangas and one of them wore a jacket with bloodstains. Some flashed powerful torches and when I attempted to look at them, they threatened me. They took my husband and ordered him to kneel outside our house and say his last prayer," Mrs Gesare told CCI. Before leaving, they ordered the wife not to raise alarm.

Searching weapons

"Some of them returned after some minutes and told me Siko had asked that I give them money in exchange for his life but there was no money," she adds. Her worst fears were confirmed when the beheaded body of Siko was found along a footpath near their home the following morning.

"We recorded statements with police but nothing has been done. Some senior police officers then visited our home and said they were looking for a pistol owned by my brother. They asked us to surrender it but there was no pistol," says Pastor Alfred Ong’era, a brother to Siko. Ong’era says the fact that police searched for the said firearm indicates they are convinced he was a robber and hence guilty before being charged.

Such incidents indicate police abetting extra judicial killings. "If he was a robber, he should have been arrested and charged as per the law. Who are these people threatening the family? Is there another government other than the one we know?" posed Ong’era.

His brother, James Kibagendi, said such executions are common in Kisii yet the Government has allowed the gang to operate freely. "We are only demanding to be allowed to bury our kin and the culprits be brought to book. Let them leave our family alone," pleads Mrs Gesare.

Kisii Central DCIO Issa Mohammed said police were investigating the murder of the clergy and said his shooting was not enough justification for some people to behead others. The officer confirmed no arrests had been made but a police source indicated the beheaded men were suspected to have murdered the clergyman. Locals interviewed credit the group with restoring security through ruthless execution of suspected criminals. The vigilante group is said to operate in all parts of Kisii and Nyamira counties.

Police denials

Residents say the group resorted to killings after well-known criminals arrested by police just bribed their way out or were released by courts for lack of evidence.

Sources privy to the group’s operations say they are highly organised with leaders and holding cells where suspects are interrogated before being punished. The cells are in Nyanchwa Estate and near KARI in Kisii town. The source says suspected criminals are usually warned to quit and reform before being executed.

"This group does not target innocent people. Only suspected criminals known by locals are victims," said a source who declined to be named for security reasons. A magistrate who declined to be named said the group’s actions may have arisen due to the public’s loss of trust in the justice system.

Last year, a suspected robber was hacked to death moments after being acquitted by a Kisii court. A group followed the man in a car at 1pm as he left the court and slashed him to death in the middle of town. Several decomposing bodies have been discovered dumped in Kodera forest near Oyugis town and in river Gucha near Awendo town.

But security officials insist there are no organised gangs in the region and only community policing groups with known members exist.

Area OCPD Peter Njenga says those who murdered other citizens will be arrested and charged. "There is nothing like an organised gang terrorising people. These are individuals whom we have laid strategies to wipe out," Nyanza Provincial Criminal Investigations Officer Joseph Mogwanja said.

The PCIO said five suspects had been arrested in Kericho in connection with the shooting of the clergy. Mogwanja admitted Nyamira County has been affected by criminal activities and called on locals to help police combat the vice.