Two armed robbers were last week lynched by residents of Nchiru, three weeks after Njuri Ncheke elders cursed them.
The two, who allegedly had been harassing residents in Nchiru, Tigania West constituency, were burned to death after elders performed a curse known as Uthi on them. Uthi is the worst curse that the elders can invoke, worse than Kithiri. One can be cleansed of Kithiri after paying a fine of three white bulls.
Uringo division Njuri Ncheke chairman Julius Mbogori said the robbers were armed with guns and daggers. They had killed three people and stolen several motorcycles.
“Three armed men recently attacked a resident known as Kinyua. Luckily he escaped. In California, they stole from residents and stabbed some with daggers," Mbogori said.
The robbers poisoned eight pigs belonging to Catholic priest Francis Liwa and stole a solar water pump.
Last month, 67 elders gathered at their shrine, applied red ochre on their cheeks, slaughtered a lamb and threw it into a fire made from Sodom apple plant twigs. Ripe Sodom apple fruits were thrown into the fire as the elders chanted curses. The ceremony lasted from 10am to 4pm.
Mbogori had at the time said the lamb would be accepted by God and in 21 days the culprits would either commit suicide or die in an accident.
“Uthi is irreversible. They will perish as the lamb burned to ashes,” he said.
Bar owner Matias Maingi said his business was raided and all the stock stolen.
Several other traders have suffered losses.
Uringo division Njuri Ncheke secretary Douglas Ntoiti said they do not deal with cases reported to the police. They can only curse if the matter has not been reported to the authorities.
Nobody is supposed to touch the firewood used in the ritual. “You cannot touch the firewood used by the elders in their ritual otherwise you will invoke a curse. The wood will burn itself out,” a resident said.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
