This archive report was first published on 9 June 2020.
On June 8, 2020, a 75-year-old man lost his life in a brutal attack in Buyanji village, Trans Nzoia County.
According to eyewitnesses, the victim, Edward Khalakai Wanjala, was hacked on the head with a machete after allegedly being found stealing sugarcane from a nearby farm.
"I received information that there was a person who had been found stealing sugarcane in a farm and that he had been killed by two young men," said Gabriel Mukhinde Wekesa, a village elder.
Residents, who claimed the victim was innocent, took the law into their own hands and torched the houses of the suspected assailants.
However, the suspects had already fled the scene after the incident.
"The old man, who had lived for more than 30 years in this village, has been depending on cutting grass in order to put food on the table. They have killed an innocent person and dumped his body on the road," lamented Suzan Nanjala, a resident.
Police visited the scene and found the victim's lifeless body lying on the road with sugarcane sticks beside him.
Kitale County Referral Hospital mortuary received the body, which had deep cuts in the head, right leg, and bruises on the back.
Alphonse Kimanzi, the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) in Kwanza, confirmed the incident and warned those who take the law into their own hands to cease from doing so.
