Thieves broke into a shop in Nkubu in Meru County and decamped with Ksh 30,000. One of the three thieves was caught and burned to death.
The shop owner is less than pleased and says she’s worried these thieves will return. She said the deceased had rented a house and was living in the same apartment.
“I noticed the curtain move as I walked into the house. When I entered, I ran into the suspect. I dashed outside and began screaming as I called for help from the neighbors. When he discovered what was happening, the suspect escaped. The neighbors responded, but it was too late because he had escaped. I went to the police station to record a statement,” said Beatrice Karimi.
“When I returned to the apartment, I encountered the suspect again. He said that he had summoned the boda boda riders to assist him in moving out. I screamed once more, and the motorcycles that had been waiting for the suspect took off. Once more, neighbors responded,” said Karimi.
She said that neighbors attempted to break his door and it didn’t work. She that they climbed on the roof and pulled out the iron sheets.
“Even after the police arrived, he managed to escape. We later heard screams and discovered that he had been captured by a mob. He was burned alive,” said Karimi.
The police arrived on the scene and took the body to the morgue.
A resident said that he knew the deceased and that there were issues when he was employed at his homeplace.
He said the suspect was implicated in the disappearance of several items.
“We found four stolen phones and other items in his room. He always appeared scared, which led to the conclusion that he was a thief. The suspect was well-known for hawking nuts. Nobody suspected him of being a thief,” a resident said.
“I urged the chief, assistant chief, residents, and Nyumba Kumi members to always conduct a background check on any new visitor to the community,” he said.
He said it would have been better if the suspect had not been killed as he would have identified the rest of his accomplices who escaped.
