Man lynched after killing two children in house fire

The house that was set on fire by a man, killing three children in Kisii County, yesterday. [PHOTO: ERIC ABUGA/STANDARD]

By Eric Abuga

Kisii, Kenya: A village in Kisii County is in shock after a man allegedly set his step-mother’s house ablaze, killing three children.

Angry villagers, who went to the rescue after seeing smoke billowing from the woman’s hut at 8am in Nyakoe village, pounced on Edwin Mogaka, killing him instantly.

Among the dead children was a one-month-old baby whose body was reduced to ashes by the raging fire lit by their step-brother.

Marani OCPD Benjamin Kimwele said Mogaka, who worked in Nairobi as a driver, arrived home on Monday evening and demanded a piece of land from his father after several years of conflict between them. “We have lost three young children aged five and two years, and a month old,” the OCPD said.

Mother remarried

After the killings, Mogaka is said to have tried to escape from an angry mob that arrived to put out the fire. The mob descended on him with stones and crude weapons.

Police officers on patrol heard the commotion and rushed to the scene to rescue the man. But doctors pronounced him dead on arrival at the Kisii Level Five Hospital where he was rushed. “We suspect that there was an exchange between the father and son after which the man bought petrol, which he used to set the house on fire, killing the children,” Kimwele said.

Neighbours told The Standard that they heard the cries of the children and rushed to the scene only to find the house on fire. “We heard a child cry and saw what we suspected to be fire emanating from the house and quickly ran to the scene with my son, but there was no way to get in,” said Onsinyo Mokua, a neighbour.

Mogaka’s father, however, said he had divorced his mother.

“I divorced Mogaka’s mother ten years ago and married my current wife so he had no right to come back and demand land here. His mother remarried under Kisii customs and traditions,” the suspect’s father said.

Two of the deceased children belong to the alleged arsonist’s step-sister and the other to his step-mother.

Land disputes in Kisii are common but in the recent past they have resulted in deaths and unending conflicts in most families.

The bodies of the four were taken to the Kisii Level Five Hospital mortuary.