A 73-year-old woman yesterday was bashed and slashed to death and her three granddaughters and housemaid raped in Kericho county.
Kericho police boss James Mugera said four attackers used chisels and iron bars to kill the elderly woman.
Her husband, 78, and the maid were seriously injured by the gang that attacked them at their house in Bureti.
They stole Sh5,000 and a mobile phone before the murder and rapes. If there was another motive, it was not immediately clear.
A sombre mood engulfed the village as residents tried to understand the violence at 4am yeterday.
The husband was hit with a blunt object. He was rushed to Litein Mission Hospital and is reported to be in stable condition.
“She was hit with blunt objects before her maid and the three grandchildren, aged between 11 and 29, were raped,” Mugera said.
cries for justice
The maid is also at Litein Mission Hospital. The gang is suspected to have entered the house through a bedroom ventilation vent by pushing it open at 4am.
Police in Litein had difficulty controlling the crowd at the scene.
Residents had insisted that the body would not be picked until forensic experts arrived and collected evidence that would lead to the arrest of the suspects.
Mugera said police from the Kericho Scene of Crimes Unit arrived at the homestead and by 10am had collected DNA and other samples.
Kapsoit MCA Paul Chirchir, commonly known as Tarimbo, and other leaders demanded the overhaul of the entire security team in Kericho.
They said they were frustrated that suspects in other murders had onot been arrested.
Mugera, however, said police are following up “crucial leads that will lead to the arrest of the murderers” and urged the public to be patient.
The woman’s body was taken to Litein Mission Hospital mortuary.
Bureti deputy county commissioner Caroline Nzwili told residents that security agents will soon bring to book the culprits as “critical information on them has been captured.”
Others at the scene included Bureti police boss Mohamed Ali and local leaders.
A number of murders in Bureti and Kericho have occurred in the past and have not been solved solved.