Friends and relatives of the slain Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum millionaire, George Maina, desperately pleaded with him to quit the criminal world.
He however defied them. His friends went to the extent of helping him to repair his broken down lorry to save him from the police bullets that eventually ended his life last Sunday.
The friends, in a rare admission, acknowledge that Maina was a known criminal both to his friends and police officers. Maina, 32, was together with six other men on a robbery mission at a warehouse in Industrial Area when they were ambushed by police from the Industrial Area police who shot them all dead.
Yesterday, James Mwangi, his close friend, told the Star that the family also used a police officer at the Nairobi area to persuade Maina to quit the criminal world but he was defiant.
At the time, Flying Squad officers were investigating another incident in which Maina was linked to theft at a go-down along Mombasa road last December. Police did not press charges as there was no evidence linking Maina, the friend revealed yesterday. “The officer (names withheld) spoke to him at length and warned that he would be killed if he did not stop. He was shot dead barely a month after he promised us that he was a reformed person,” Mwangi told the Star yesterday.
The lorry which police found at the godown and which was being used to transport the stolen goods was the one that the friends helped him to repair after he vowed never to get involved in robbery, Mwangi said.
Five of the men killed with Maina were yesterday identified at the City Mortuary by their relatives. Records at the mortuary identified them as, Patrick Nzau ,Wambua Maithya, Kyalo Nguli, George Muturi and Michael Mwangi. They all lived in Mukuru kwa Njenga slums. Nairobi DCI chief Ireri Kamwende said Maina was the gang leader, a known criminal to the police. Maina owned a lorry and 50 mabati rentals in Mukuru kwa Njenga slums.
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The officers said Maina was armed with a pistol and was manning the gate as his accomplices stormed the warehouse. All the gang members were shot dead. Kamwende said investigators had yet to establish if Maina had pending criminal cases in court.
The police and witnesses have given conflicting accounts on what happened. A report from Industrial Area police station said officers were informed of a robbery at the godown. They rushed to the scene and were confronted by a lone gunman.
The report sent to Vigilance House said the officers shot and killed the gunman and proceeded into the warehouse. They encountered another group armed with machetes, axes and toy pistols. But security guards at an adjacent building said five armed plainclothes officers, were deployed to the godown well before 8pm. “As soon as the gang stormed in, the officers pounced on them and shot them,” one watchman said.
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