GRUESOME KILLING

Lamu police probe murder of 50-year-old man

His dismembered body was found in a bush where he had gone to burn charcoal.

In Summary
  • Mohamed is said to have been trailed by the assailants who  attacked and beheaded him near Kizingitini Primary School at around 7pm.

  • The deceased is believed to have been in  possession of reliable information on the individuals behind the murder of two chiefs last year.

Police in Lamu are probing the murder of a 50-year-old man by unknown assailants last week.

Yusuf Mohamed, a charcoal trader, was a cousin and close friend of  Myabogi sub-location assistant chief Malik Athman Shee who was murdered alongside Mbwajumwali senior chief Mohamed Hajji in their office on December 11, 2019.

Mohamed is said to have been trailed by the assailants who beheaded him near Kizingitini Primary School around 7pm.

 
 

The deceased who hailed from Myabogi village is believed to have been in  possession of reliable information about the individuals behind the murder of the two chiefs last year.

He is said to have fled his home in Myabogi for Kizingitini village 100 metres away shortly after the two administrators were murdered for fear that he would be next.

“He left his home at 6am and headed to the bush for his usual charcoal burning venture. We found his body near the school. The head had been completely severed from the torso. We believe the killers must have waylaid him as he returned home and killed him,” said Kassim Athman.

The incident was confirmed by Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia and Lamu East OCPD Emmanuel Okanda who said investigations had been launched into the murder.

Macharia appealed to members of the public to assist by providing any crucial information that may help unearth the killers and bring them to book.

 

“We understand he went to burn charcoal in the bush as he always does. It's however hard to get the right information as to who exactly killed him and the reasons behind the killing. That’s why we are calling on the community to help,” Okanda said.

Lamu  Haki Africa Organisation coordinator Issakia Yunus condemned the murder and decried the rising insecurity in Lamu East villages orchestrated by machete-wielding gangs.

 
 

Barely a month ago, police constable Rodgers Odhiambo who was attached to the Tchundwa police post was accosted by a gang of three machete-wielding men as he left a shop in the area and slashed to death.

"Whatever is happening in Lamu East is alarming. The brutal killings of administrators, police officers and civilians by machete-wielding gangs must end. The bloodshed is too much and we are tired. Let the police tell us when this will end,” Yunus said.

In October last year, police constable Hesbon Anunda, also attached to the Tchundwa police post, was killed and his mutilated body dumped in a thicket on the Mbwajumwali-Kizingitini road.

On April 22, 2019, Amina Bakari, 30, who was a volunteer peer educator with the Kenya Red Cross  and a Nyumba Kumi official, was attacked by unknown people  as she closed her shop at around 11pm within Mbwajumwali village.

On June 10, 2016, Mbwajumwali senior chief Mohamed Shee Mohamed, 50, was hacked to death by unknown assailants while on his way to work.

The murders have sparked fears of the emergence of killer gangs whose aim is to finish off a specific group of people for unknown motives.

Edited by Henry Makori

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