Villagers set ablaze gang's getaway vehicles, motorbike after raid on home

Three cars belonging to suspected criminals and a motorbike were set ablaze on Wednesday morning after more than 30 men stormed a homestead in Boma village, Ndeiya, Limuru sub-county.

The gang, armed with crude weapons including metal bars, rods and hammers, attacked the home of Mzee Lawrence Kangara at around 5am. Kangara said the men climbed onto his roof, apparently seeking entry into his house.

“I was woken by noise on the roof and switched on the lights. When I opened the door, a group of men shone torch lights in my face, hurled insults and forced me back inside,” he said.

The attackers then turned to the nearby home of Kangara’s son, Michael Karanu, breaking doors and windows to force entry. Karanu said the men overpowered them and gained entry into the house.

They entered through my children’s room. The children screamed in terror as I begged the armed men to spare them. I rushed the children to my wife’s room, but the ordeal left them badly shaken,” he said.

“I was worried because they first gained entry into my children’s room. I went in and pleaded with the heavily armed men to spare them. I took them to my room where my wife was screaming and this terrified the children. One gangster kept on telling me to move out or they kill me and my children, I have never been shaken this much,” Karanu said.

The commotion attracted the attention of villagers, prompting the gang to flee on motorcycles and vehicles.

Unbeknown to the gang the escape route had been excavated by a road contractor.

The armed men who had more than six motorcycles and three vehicles reached a dead end after they ran into heaps of soil on the road.

They were forced to abandon the vehicles and one motorcycle as they fled to nearby thickets.

The villagers set the vehicles ablaze.

Mzee Kangara told the Press that he is a worried man since a few months ago his other son was killed under mysterious circumstances at Kwambira in Limuru and now a group is hell bent on demolishing the house of his other son, with whom they share a compound.

“Iam appealing to the government to guarantee this family's security. This is not an ordinary attack where over 30 men can run over a compound with the kind of might and force they displayed, I am very worried that now am hosting my granddaughter and son in my hosue as well as my son and his wife since the house is destroyed,” Kangara said

Police from Thigio and Ndeiya and DCI officers from Limuru visited the scene.

Ephantus Njagi Ndeiya, assistant sub-county commissioner said that the police have taken up the matter and are pursuing leads that can help nail the suspects and unearth the motive behind the brazen attack.

“We shall get to the bottom of this matter. We have commenced investigation with the DCI team and before long, we shall have culprits with us,” Njagi said.