Renato Bettini, an Italian tourist of age 65 was found dead at the banks of River Sabaki in Malindi. He was a regular visitor to Malindi who arrived six months ago and was preparing to return to his country. The corpse was discovered in a hippo infested thicket at Moi village in Malindi Sub County, Kilifi County by fishermen who were on a fishing expedition.
The body had deep wounds suspected to have been as a result of having been knifed or having been stumbled upon by the hippos. Police officers from Malindi and Magarini Sub Counties visited the scene of the crime and picked the body that was ferried to a local mortuary. An autopsy to determine cause of death has not been done.
The body is said to have been found floating on the water metres away from Indian Ocean. The area is said to have a series of insecurity issues and that bodies of people killed elsewhere are usually dumped in the area.
This comes after five people were injured and an Italian student volunteer kidnapped in a suspected Al-Shabaab night attack on a shopping centre at Chakama in Kilifi County. Residents said that 80 heavily armed men attacked the village in Galana Kulalu at around and started shooting in the air.
They then kidnapped the young Italian lady, who worked as a volunteer in the area. The 23-year-old woman was among Italian volunteers who had rented a house from which she was abducted at Chakama trading centre.
She was working as volunteer with Africa Milele Onlus non-governmental organisation whose mission is to raise literacy and education levels in Chakama.