Man killed, 2 injured over link to Mungiki

By Job Weru

A man was brutally murdered and two others are fighting for their livesat Karatina’s Jamii Hospital after boda boda operators in Baricho area in Kirinyaga County allegedly attacked them.

The attackers reportedly accosted the victims at Baricho area, after they trailed them from Kagio some 15km away, where they had allegedly attended a court hearing for some suspected Mungiki members. The gang waylaid the group at Baricho, after they sought refuge at Kagio Police Station.

“Police assured us that everything was okay, and we set on our journey back to Karatina through Baricho, only for the them (attackers) to reemerge as we refuelled our car. They ordered us to get on their motorcycles as they attacked us, but I managed to escape,” said Benson Iregi, 33, who suffered serious head and limb injuries.

Iregi, who is a pastor with faith and Miracle Church and a taxi operator at Karatina town, said the gang accused them of being Mungiki suspects after he went to the court to apply for a release of one of his vehicles. “When they saw me in court alongside my mother and three other people, they started tracking us,” Iregi said.

SURVIVED ATTACK

Robert Muriuki, 27, a taxi car owner at Karatina who also survived the attack said he escaped from one of the motorcycles assigned to ferry

him. Muriuki said he hid under his car before taking cover in a nearby house.

Three weeks ago, suspected Mungiki members clashed with the operators at Kibingoti and Kibirigwi shopping centres.