Witnesses in an attempted defilement case recounted to an Eldoret court how the accused was rescued by the police from a mob that wanted to set him ablaze.
Jane Chemutai told senior resident magistrate Barnabas Kiptoo that the accused, Samson Kibet, alias Governor, was cornered by a mob after he tried to defile a Grade 6 pupil.
The offence was allegedly committed on the night of March 21 last year at Silas estate on the outskirts of Eldoret town.
She said she heard screams and abandoned her house chores and rushed to where the call for help was coming. She said she found the pupil who claimed a man had accosted her and attempted to defile her.
Chemutai said Kibet tried to flee from the mob by jumping over a fence.
The court heard that irate members of the public pulled down the fence and found the accused in the toilet while brandishing a hammer.
"Passers-by, who saw the accused as he ran from the scene, pursued him and found him hiding in a toilet in a residential plot," Chemutai said.
Brian Kibet, a prosecution witness, narrated how the accused, whom he referred to as Governor, hit him on the head while attempting to flush him out of the toilet.
This angered the mob and as they were just about to lynch him, police who were on patrol intervened. They took the accused to Kapsoya police station.
"He hit me on the head and I fell down unconscious after I had challenged him to surrender by getting out of the toilet. I was rushed to a nearby private health facility where I was treated and discharged," he said.
The case will be heard on August 25 when the doctor who attended to the pupil in hospital will testify.
Edited by A.N
