- The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said a witness told them that he heard sudden heavy sounds at around 4 am.
- The terrified thugs immediately scattered from the compound and jumped over the perimeter while one of them took cover inside an incomplete structure.
A 30-year-old man was on Monday night beaten to death by Gitaru villagers in Kiambu county for allegedly staging a robbery.
The suspect was part of a miscreant gang that had jumped into a compound, but their mission was aborted when the homeowner heard echoes of their feet clomping loudly in his compound and raised an alarm.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said a witness told them that he heard sudden heavy sounds at around 4 am.
"I assumed that objects were falling from the skies. Moments later, the tempo of the footsteps increased followed by miserable bleats of my sheep," he said.
He said he then asked his wife whether she had heard the commotion.
"Icio ni mburi ciakwa? ii nicio! (Are those my goats? Yes yes, they’re the ones!) She whispered back," he said.
It was at this moment that the man immediately leapt from the bed, tiptoed towards the bedroom’s window and peeped from one corner, to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
He spotted shadows of people moving towards the sheep’s kraal, which had been raided one week ago and immediately raised alarm as his wife joined.
"Uuuuuui! Uuuuuuui! Wezi! Wezi! Mutiuke na nimokire!" they screamed.
This is loosely translated to: Come to our aid! the criminals have arrived
The terrified suspected criminals immediately scattered from the compound and jumped over the perimeter wall while one of them took cover inside an incomplete structure.
The neighbours responded immediately and the man who was pacing up and down the house screaming unlocked the door while pointing towards the direction of the incomplete building, where the remaining suspect had taken refuge.
The neighbours descended on the suspect who was rescued by police officers.
The officers rushed him to Wangige Level Four hospital but he died an hour later as doctors were trying to save his life.
DCI said the deceased body is lying at the hospital’s morgue pending identification and postmortem.
"Members of the public are advised not to take the law into their own hands in such circumstances," they said.