Police in Migori are investigating the killing of a
businesswoman who was shot during a robbery in Migori Town on Thursday night.
The victim, identified as 48-year-old Mary Mongare, operated
an M-Pesa outlet in the town.
According to police, she was attacked shortly after closing
her business at around 9 p.m. on October 23, 2025.
Mongare had reportedly deposited Sh500,000 received from a
customer before leaving for home with her daughter.
They boarded a motorcycle and later alighted at the Sala area
along the Migori–Kisii highway, from where they began walking home.
It was then that two armed men, whose faces were covered,
confronted them and ordered them to surrender their belongings.
In panic, the
daughter screamed for help and ran away, prompting the assailants to open fire.
Mongare was shot three times—in the right ankle, left wrist,
and left side of the chin—before the attackers fled with her bag, which
contained an M-Pesa phone and a flask.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she died while
undergoing treatment. Her body was later moved to the mortuary for a
postmortem.
Police said no arrests had been made by Saturday, but
investigations were ongoing.
A team of detectives from the Directorate of Criminal
Investigations (DCI) has been deployed to assist local officers in tracking
down the killers.
“We are following crucial leads and are determined to bring
the culprits to justice,” said one officer who is part of the investigating
team.
The incident adds to a series of violent robberies reported
in Migori in recent months, sparking concern among residents and local leaders
over rising insecurity. Police have since increased patrols in the town and its
outskirts to curb the attacks.
Authorities suspect that an armed gang operating within the region could be behind several similar robberies and say efforts to dismantle the group are ongoing.
In Kenyan law, robbery with violence is one of the most
serious criminal offences — it attracts a death sentence under the Penal Code,
Section 296(2).
“If the offender is armed with any dangerous or offensive
weapon or is in company with one or more other persons, or if, at or
immediately before or immediately after the time of the robbery, he wounds,
beats, strikes, or uses other personal violence to any person, he shall be
sentenced to death,” — Section 296(2), Penal Code of Kenya states.
Although the Penal Code prescribes death, the Supreme Court of Kenya in the landmark Muruatetu decision (2017) ruled that mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional.
In Kenyan law, murder is one of the most severe criminal offences — just like robbery with violence — and it is also punishable by death under the Penal Code, Section 203 and 204.
Meanwhile, in Isinya, Kajiado County, police have launched
investigations after a decomposed body was found on a farm on Thursday.
The body, identified as Edward Mukira, was discovered by
residents who were drawn to the scene by a foul smell.
Police said the cause of death was not immediately clear,
and the body has been taken to the mortuary pending a postmortem examination.
Investigations into both incidents are ongoing.
