Man found dead in church after New Year ‘kesha’

A 44-year-old-man was found dead inside a church in Trans-Nzoia County yesterday.

Worshippers of the Full Gospel Church in Kibomet found William Kariuki’s body at around 5am.

The faithful, who had arrived in the church for morning prayers, at first thought the man was sleeping. They tried to wake him up, but he was unresponsive. They then called police.

“We tried to wake him up but he was not responding. We then alerted police,” a faithful told The Standard.

Kwanza Sub-county Police Commander Alphonse Kimanzi said Kariuki was among worshippers who had attended the New Year’s Eve celebrations on Tuesday.

Mr Kimanzi said police suspected the man could have fallen asleep during the church service, and was later left behind by the congregation. “We got information at around 5.30am that a man had been found dead inside a church,” said Kimanzi.

“We suspect he might have fallen asleep in the process and was left behind. Our preliminary investigations indicate he was intoxicated,” the police boss added.

He said investigations had been launched to establish the circumstances surrounding Kariuki’s death. 

“A postmortem examination will be conducted to establish the cause of death. The body was taken to Mt Elgon Hospital mortuary,” said Kimanzi.