- Kaningo chief Kitheka Syengo said camel herders killed the youth.
- Police said the body was found with stab wounds in the neck and the back but there was no evidence that any bullets were used.
Image: MUSEMBI NZENGU
The murder last weekend of a student from Kamuthanga village Tseikuru, Kitui county, continues to be condemned in the area.
Tseikuru MCA Boniface Kilaa on Tuesday expressed fury over the killing by suspected camel herders.
Kilaa urged police to investigate and get to the bottom of the brutal murder of 20-year-old Muteti Kimwele who was stabbed to death by the attackers on Saturday morning.
“Life is sacred and no person should be allowed to lose life or be killed by any other person. Even hardcore criminals are not just killed for committing crime. That is why I demand that the police investigate and apprehend those involved in the death of the student,” Kilaa said.
The MCA said although there were many grey areas and unclear information on the circumstances in which the murder happened, it behoves the government to protect its citizens.
“If such a murder is allowed to go unresolved, then it will become the norm to kill my people at will,” he said.
Kaningo chief Kitheka Syengo said camel herders killed the youth by stabbing him several times. He said the incident took place in Mwingi National Reserve.
“The deceased, who was in the company of his father and others, was returning from an unclear night expedition inside the Mwingi National Reserve when he was killed,” Syengo said.
Kilaa said by phone that the murdered youth was a Form 3 student at Kaningo Secondary School.
But Tseikuru subcounty police commander Charles Kibathi said police were yet to establish whether the youth was a student. He said he was killed by unknown people at a place called Kamunyu.
He said the body was found with stab wounds in the neck and the back but there was no evidence that any bullets were used by the attackers. No spent cartridges were found at the scene of the murder when the police went to collect the body on Saturday.
“As far as we are concerned, we are investigating and we are keen on getting the right information on the circumstances of the murder. Until we complete investigations, we cannot say that the young man was killed by herders,” Kibathi told the Star on the phone on Tuesday.
He said the father of the murdered youth, Kimwele Mutunga, who was with him at the time on Monday was interrogated by police on why they went into a protected area at night. He was also asked to explain how they were confronted by their attackers.
“We just briefly held the man and our interrogation was not conclusive. In his statements he says they travelled over 30km into Kora National Reserve to look for lost goats but we did not buy that. We also believe that they were in a group but he insisted it was him and his son,” Kibathi said.
He said Mutunga was temporarily set free to allow him to organise the burial of his son before interrogation resumes soon after the funeral is finalised.
Edited by Henry Makori