Kitengela raid gets deadly, police pursue criminal who escaped

Image result for cattle rustling Is mob justice a way of solving crime in Kenya?

Residents in Kitengela ,Kajiado County are in shock after cattle raiders who are said to have been using licenced guns raided a Maasai homestead and made away with cattle.

In revenge and attempt to recover the animals , the residents have lynched the four suspected rustlers after it they allegedly tried to flee with stolen cattle .

According to the owner ,the suspects went to his Manyata on Friday morning and drove off with 10 cows.

“After the suspects had driven off the cows, my dogs started barking and my sons went to check and found the cows missing. They immediately raised alarm and the rustlers were pursued,” said Mwenda.

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The farmer said the theft occurred at his home in Korrompoi area of Kaputiei North Ward and the cows were driven towards the export processing zone in Athi River where the rustlers wanted to load them on the waiting lorry.

The rustlers, who are suspected to be resident from Narok were caught up by angry villagers who descended on them, beating them viciously. One managed to escape with injuries.

Eye witnesses said some of the villagers were armed with (licensed) guns.

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Kajiado County Commissioner Yatich Kipkemei said cattle rustling has become rampant in Kajiado with many farmers counting heavy losses.

Kipkemei said the rustlers are suspected to be from the neighbouring Narok County where they were believed to be heading with the stolen cattle.

Police are hunting for the suspect who fled, while bodies of the four were moved to City Mortuary

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Kenya’s pastoralist communities have long considered cattle rustling a cultural practice, according to a 2011 Kenya Human Rights Commission report. In the past, warriors would wield crude weapons such as spears, swords and bows and arrows to steal livestock, but they rarely killed people.

But in the past few decades, in West Pokot, Baringo, Laikipia, Turkana and Samburu counties, in northwestern and central Kenya, cattle raids have escalated, fuelled by the proliferation of small arms smuggled into the country.Related image

In November, Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, oversaw the destruction of at least 5,250 guns recovered over the past nine years, a fraction of the estimated 500,000-plus illegal firearms in the country – most of which are owned by pastoralists. Disarmament efforts have so far yielded little progress.

 

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