Thugs rob Catholic priest in Kapseret, dump car in Sugoi

A Catholic priest and his servant escaped death after a gang of four armed men, who were in jungle green regalia resembling police uniform, attacked them in Uasin Gishu County.

Father Robert Korir was attacked in his house at Augustine Parish, Borderland Catholic Church, within the Mulango area on Tuesday night.

According to Daniel Muleli, the area Criminal Investigation Officer, the incident occurred at midnight within the church building in Kapseret sub-county.

“The incident was reported by Assistant Chief of Ngeria Sub location Alfred Lagat, who stated that he received a phone call at around 1.30 am from Fr. Korir of Borderland Catholic Church that he was attacked and robbed by thugs,” said Muleli

He added, “The priest also alleged that the thieves were in police regalia of jungle green resembling a police uniform. He reiterated that they forced entry from the back door and forcibly instructed his servant from the servant quarters to call him, pretending that the servant had something to share with the priest.”

Muleli stated that the information shared with them by the priest indicated that the house servant usually kept a duplicate key to the priest's main house but failed to hand it over to them.

However, when the priest responded to the servant and opened the door, they were ordered to lie down, and had their hands and legs tied to a table in the sitting room.

The CID boss further explained that after the two had pleaded with them to spare their lives, they instead abandoned and started ransacking the house from which they stole Sh6,000.

“It’s unfortunate for an individual to steal from a man of God, especially from a Catholic Church, where many people know that the priests and nuns have sacrificed themselves to work for God. It’s also inhuman to attack not only a Catholic but any servant of God,” Muleli warned

He noted that apart from frustrating the priest and his servant, they stole two mobile phones valued at Sh107,000, and unknown values of other properties.

Muleli maintained that after ransacking the house, the thugs demanded the keys to his car, which was parked meters away from the house.

They drove off using the same car, with officers finding it abandoned at Sugoi area in Turbo Sub County, about 10 kilometres from the scene of the incident.

“I sincerely thank our officers from Stapol Sugoi for their swift action after receiving the information. They followed up the police signals sufficiently because we had already circulated the information in all police platforms within the region,” he added.

However, the Head of Eldoret Catholic Diocese, Bishop Dominick Kimengich, said the church is not ready to rely on speculations, arguing that the case is with the police and that they are waiting to hear from them before commenting on anything.