• Likoni subcounty police boss Timothy Muasya said Hemed Mohamed Baishe's father reported his 21-year-old son had been killed by a mob.
• Family members said Hemed had finished supper with his family and was preparing to go to bed when a call came from a client known to his elder brother.
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A would-be boda boda rider on his first job was dragged from a Likoni mosque by a mob, which beat him to death.
The motive has not been established and the family of Hemed Mohamed Baihe is demanding answers. The case is very strange.
Was it a set-up? Was their son a criminal? What really happened to Hemed?
Police are investigating the killing in Shonda area on Tuesday night.
Hemed, 21, was beaten to death by a mob that had been from watching a Uefa Champions League match at a video café where liquor was probably served.
Likoni subcounty police boss Timothy Muasya said Hemed’s father Mohamed Baishe reported that his son had been killed by a mob.
“The officer in charge of Inuka police station went to the scene where the mob justice had taken place and we have now opened investigations,” Muasya said.
Family members said Hemed had finished supper with his family and was preparing for bed when a call came in from a client known to his elder brother.
The client said he wanted to be taken to Inuka police station to get his motorcycle, which had been impounded.
Hemed, who did not yet have his papers to be a boda boda rider, agreed to pick up the client. It would be his first job.
Hemed’s cousin Said Nassir said midway to the station, Hemed saw police officers on patrol and was afraid because he had no documents allowing him to ride a motorbike.
“The client told us Hemed asked him to take another boda boda, which he said he did, while Hemed used another route to go back home,” Nassir said.
At around 12am, Baishe, Hemed’s father, received a call from an unknown number that his son was being beaten by a mob and that he should go pick him up before he dies.
“When the father got to the scene, Hemed was fighting for his life. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died," Nassir said.
The family is shocked and confused. They don't know what happened.
“According to information we have so far, Hemed ran into a mosque to try and get away from the mob that was baying for his blood. But they caught up with him, removed him from the mosque and beat him to death,” Nassir said.
Hemed’s mother Saumu Mohamed said she did not know the meal they had just had would be their last together.
“His father was just called by someone who said he should go pick his son. We don’t know what transpired,” she said.
Her son was not involved in anything that would warrant mob justice, she said.
The family is calling on security officers to give answers about the mysterious killing.
Muslims for Human Rights said mob justice should not be allowed.
Muhuri rapid response officer Francis Auma said it is common in Likoni.
“We discourage the community from taking the law into their hands,” Auma said.
He called on the police to thoroughly investigate and unearth the truth about Hemed’s killing and arrest and prosecute those involved.
He said mob justice is symptomatic of the lack of faith or trust in the criminal justice system.
“The citizens have now turned into law enforcers themselves, which is wrong. Anyone taking the law into their own hands should be arrested and prosecuted,” Auma said.
He said the police and the justice system should do more to create trust among the citizens.
Hemed was on his first day as a boda boda rider and thought he would start earning something for himself.
He had planned to save his money from work but it would be his first and last job.
He was buried on Wednesday evening at Masjid Swafaa cemetery in Likoni.
(Edited by V. Graham)