- Angry boda boda riders lynched the three men after linking them with the death of their colleague Jacob Osore on Tuesday at 4 am.
- Homa Bay police commander Peter Maluki said they took the bodies of the killed persons to Homa Bay Referral Hospital mortuary.
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO
Three suspects have been lynched after they were accused of killing a boda boda rider and raping his wife within Mbita, Suba North constituency.
Angry boda boda riders lynched the three men after linking them with the death of their colleague Jacob Osore on Tuesday at 4 am.
The killed suspects included Omondi Musa, Frank Dimba and Omondi Ariko.
Osore was killed and his wife raped after suspected gangsters raided his house at Got Rateng B Village, Lambwe East Location in Mbita, Suba North.
The gangsters assaulted Osore with a panga before he died a few hours later while receiving medication at Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital.
The suspects also robbed him of his motorbike. They raped Osore’s wife who had a one-week-old child.
The heinous act infuriated residents who were mainly boda boda riders of the area before they started man-hunting them.
The mob first got hold of Dimba, 29, at Got Rateng village in Mbita.
They assaulted and killed Dimba on the spot near the Kipasi trading centre.
Mbita Sub-county Police Commander Solomon Barng’etuny said the mob killed the suspects before officers arrived.
Barngetuny told residents to avoid taking the law into their own hands.
“The matter is under investigation. We’re looking for those who killed the suspects to record statements with us,” Barng’etuny said.
The mob moved to Rodi Kopany Township in Homa Bay town where they murdered Ariko. They attacked and killed him with crude weapons.
The mob later found Musa in the Shauri Yako estate in Homa Bay town and killed him.
They assaulted him with pangas and wooden clubs before he died instantly.
Homa Bay police commander Peter Maluki said they took the bodies of the killed persons to Homa Bay Referral Hospital mortuary.
“We want people to have handed over suspects to police for investigations. Killing them interfere with investigations,” Maluki said.
Speaking on Wednesday, some boda boda riders in Homa Bay town led by Opiyo Soso, Collins Okoth and David Juma decried over rampant theft of motorcycles.
They claimed that some people operating in groups target bodaboda riders.
Soso said ten motorbikes had been stolen in the past two weeks while one rider was killed and two others injured.
“Let the police accord boda boda riders in Homa Bay adequate security. There is a criminal group targeting boda boda riders,” Soso said.
Okoth said the situation is instilling fear in many bodaboda riders.
“Some riders operate in fear because of what is happening. Boda boda is a business that has employed many people and it shouldn’t be crippled by a few individuals,” Okoth said.
Juma urged riders to make efforts to know their people through registration as an effort to weed out criminals.
“We want everybody operating as a boda boda rider registered. This will enable us to identify criminals who are hiding in our business,” Juma said.