Writes Leo Odera Omolo.
Residents OF Oyugis town in Rachuonyo South district within Homa-Bay County are still in a state of shock after witnessing one of the most cruel and grisly day light killing of a suspected motorbike thief.
The incident which sounded like a Hollywood movie story, according to sources had started in Oyugis Town a couple of months ago. The motorbike thief in his early 30-s, had stolen a boda boda motor bike in Oyugis his home town and rode it towards Sondu and Ahero and disappeared with no trace.
A report filtering in says he was using the stolen bike at Ahero town and its environs where he had take refugee to the home of his elder sister who is married there. After doing business for about four months, the suspect thief sold the bike and got paid money. The next thing he stole was another bike at Ahero and rode it back to his Oyugis home town.
The owner of the motorbike which was stolen in Ahero raised alarm and mobilized close to 40 other boda boda riders. The group rode towards Oyugis after receiving some information that the man was now using the same stolen bike as a boda boda in Oyugis Town.
They were armed with small axes, machetes and other crude weapons which they had hidden on their bikes. Upon reaching Oyugis they visited the home in Kokal village near Mithui .But the in the company of some policemen hoping to have the suspect arrested. But the suspect was nowhere to be found at home, so they arrested his father and took him to Oyugis police Station so that he could help in the investigations and search for his son and the stolen bike.
The group pursuing the suspect motorbike thief got the tip that he was hiding inside a friends house in Oygis Town. The group arrived and the suspect’s friend saw them first at took off, but the thief was caught red handed while changing the motorbike tyre within the compound.
He was frog matched to the Town Centre and upon reaching the tarmac road, he was hacked with axes and machetes, rungus and all sorts of weapons. His pursuers were armed with several liters of petrol. They doused him and necklaced him with a tyre and set him ablaze. It was a such a cruel death that even the policemen who had accompanied the group fled and took to their heels.
There has been an alarming increases in cases of boda boda motorbike getting stolen and at time violently which resulted in the riders getting killed before the thieves got away with the bike to unknown destinations. The situation is said to be so pathetic within Homa-Bay and Migori Counties as well as Kisumu county.
The badly mutilated body of the lynched thief was later collected by the police after it cooled of from the fire. The incident took place in full view of the deceased relatives and friends who witnessed it, but were helpless and could not help.
Ends