Three brothers from Kilifi county have been arrested over the murder of their father.
Ngombo Tinga, Edison Nyale and Shadrack Tinga had gone to Kilifi county hospital mortuary to collect the remains of their father on Saturday when they were arrested. A neighbour who had accompanied them was also arrested.
Mtwapa DCIO Phydelis Emacar who led the operation said the three are key suspects in the murder of Hannington Tinga, 82, a Kaya elder.
Tinga was hacked to death by unknown people days after his sons accused him of practising witchcraft.
Two other family members including a son and the widow had also been arrested.
Police also confiscated the burial permit to make sure the family does not collect the body unsupervised.
“We arrived at the mortuary at 5.30am waiting for them. We were targeting four brothers but one of them did not come to pick the body at the mortuary. We are trailing him,” Emacar said.
The four people are reported to have arrived at the mortuary in a tuktuk to transfer the body to their Chonyi home.
“Tinga was accused of practising witchcraft by his own children after his granddaughter passed on during a caesarean section operation. They took him to Kwale to swear an oath and he was pronounced innocent but the grudge did not end,” she said.
Emacar said Tinga reported the matter to the police before seeking refuge with one of his daughters in Kilifi.
“After some time he decided to go back home and follow up the matter with the police and he promised his daughter that he will come back once done but he never made it back,” Emacar said.
The child who died was Nyale's daughter. Nyale later denied being Tinga's son.
“Hannington was murdered on September 22 but none of his sons visited the homestead all that time until now that they have come to collect the body for burial. Even the wife remained in Likoni where she stays with her sons. The elder was living alone,” the detective said.
Kilifi county police boss Stephen Matu said the police will arrest all family members when a person is killed on witchcraft allegations.
“Most of these murders are coordinated by the family; that’s why it is very hard to get information. We have decided we will go for the whole family,” Matu said.
