Police in Nyanchwa in Kisii Central Subcounty are holding a middle-aged man in connection with the killing of his Grade 2 niece.
According to the victim’s father, Immaculate Nyaboke, a pupil at Etora Primary School in Bogusero Ward, was returning to school after lunch when she met her death.
“We heard cries from her classmates who were terrorized by the man they knew along the footpath as they ran away. When we arrived, we found my daughter lying helplessly in a pool of blood,” the bereaved mother narrated.
Fellow pupils told police that the assailant fatally hacked the girl on the head with a machete before fleeing the scene. The victim’s body was transferred to the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary pending a postmortem examination.
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Following the incident, irate villagers torched all the houses belonging to the suspect, who was identified as Julius Onyonka. Residents claimed he had a history of child defilement and violence. They alleged that he had been arrested recently but was mysteriously released after his mother reportedly bribed her way to secure his freedom from the police cells.
The suspect’s brother, who identified himself as Paul, said the family had no prior grudges that could explain the brutal killing. He blamed his brother’s excessive use of cannabis sativa for the attack and pleaded with villagers not to allow him to return to the village alive.
Police have condemned the mob justice and urged residents to allow the law to take its course. The suspect remains in custody as officers pursue further evidence in the case.
By Enock Okong’o
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