Family seeks justice for Nyeri peanut roaster shot dead during protests

Body of a protester shot by police.[File, Standard]

Family members of 26-year-old Joseph Mwangi Wachira, alias “Mwas”, are demanding justice after the groundnut vendor was allegedly shot dead by police during Monday protests in Nyeri town, in an incident that has left Majengo residents in deep shock and mourning.

The family says Mwas, who was popularly known in the area for roasting and selling groundnuts, was killed in broad daylight as he tried to protect property during the unrest, even as police allegedly denied that any fatality had occurred.

“Mwas” earned a living by roasting and selling groundnuts in Majengo, where residents say he was widely loved for his humour, friendliness, and determination to survive through honest work. To many, he was a familiar face along the streets, calling out to customers and sharing jokes with passersby as he tried to make a living.

His family claims he was shot in the head at around 1.30 pm while helping protect shops from looters during demonstrations that disrupted Nyeri town.

According to the aunt, Ruth Wangari Mathenge, she spent the better part of Monday inside her house in Majengo, Nyeri, as demonstrations unfolded in town, only to receive devastating news at around 3 pm that her nephew had been shot dead just a few metres from where he worked.

“I had remained indoors throughout the day due to the unrest, unaware that my nephew, whom I have lived with for the past two years, had already been caught in the violence outside,” she said. “At around 3 pm, I was told my nephew had been shot. I rushed to the scene immediately,” she added.

She said he had been shot outside his employer’s workplace, only a few metres from his home, where he earned a living by roasting and selling groundnuts, and that well-wishers had already rushed Mwas’s body to Nyeri County Referral Hospital Funeral Home.

However, she said the body was not received at the facility at that time because there was no Occurrence Book (OB) number from the police, leaving the family stranded in grief and confusion.

“When I got to the mortuary, I was told they could not book him in because there was no OB number,” she said. “We were left not knowing what to do.”

She said the family was forced to move between the police station and the mortuary as they tried to establish the official record of his death, while struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

“I later went to Nyeri Central Police Station at around 6 pm, and that is when we were given the OB number. But even then, the officers insisted that my nephew had not been killed in Nyeri town; they claimed he might have been killed in Karatina, which confused us even more because everyone knew exactly where he was shot in Majengo, Nyeri,” she said.

She described Mwas as a hardworking young man who had come to Nyeri to earn a living through roasting and selling groundnuts, and he was well known to residents.

“He was just working to survive. He was not part of the protests that day; they had only gone to look after their boss’s workplace so it would not be destroyed by looters. His parents are in Mombasa, and he was a very obedient boy. We lived together for three years,” she said.

Even as authorities reportedly denied that any fatalities occurred during the Nyeri protests, the family says they continue to seek answers on how the young man lost his life and why his body could not be immediately processed at the mortuary.

Ruth said the family is now holding onto memories of a young man whose final moments, captured in a viral video, show residents desperately trying to save him after he was shot in the head while in Majengo.

His uncle, Jerad Ndiritu, said Mwas had grown up under his care and had become like a son to him, describing him as a calm, respectful, and hardworking young man who had moved to Nyeri to look for better opportunities. He said the family is struggling to understand how a youth who was simply trying to earn a living ended up losing his life in such a violent manner during the protests.

“He was like my son because he grew up in our home. He came to Nyeri to look for work and survive,” he said.

Ndiritu said Mwas had no criminal record and was known in Majengo for roasting and selling groundnuts, adding that the family believes he was caught up in circumstances beyond his control while trying to protect property during the unrest.

“He had no criminal record. We want justice because he was not a criminal,” Ndiritu said.

The deceased’s grandfather, Joseph Mwangi Wachira, struggled to hold back tears as he described the pain of losing his grandson, saying the family had been left devastated and without clarity on what exactly led to his death during the Nyeri protests.

“We do not understand why a young man who was just trying to survive was taken away from us like this. All we want is the truth and justice to be served,” he said.

He appealed for justice and government support, saying the family was also grappling with burial costs at a time when they were still trying to understand the circumstances surrounding the shooting. He said they only wanted truth, accountability, and dignity for the young man they had raised.

“We want the government to come and help us because we never even had the budget for this burial. We are completely broken, and we just want justice for our grandson,” he said.

Majengo resident Isha Muhammed said residents witnessed the incident from rooftops as police officers engaged youths in the streets below.

“We were watching from the rooftop when we saw police shoot him,” she said.

She insisted the shooting happened in Nyeri and not Karatina, dismissing confusion that spread on social media following the protests.

“He was not demonstrating. They were only protecting their bosses’ shops,” she added, saying she is ready to testify in court if called upon.