Elderly woman is killed following land dispute in Naivasha

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A land dispute between two families over the ownership of a parcel of land in Naivasha ended on a sour note after a 65-year-old woman was clobbered to death.

Two other men were left nursing deep machete wounds during the midday incident in Mountain View off the Naivasha-Mai Mahiu road.

Emotions ran high between the two families, forcing police to intervene and take the injured to Naivasha sub-county hospital for treatment.

The latest incident comes a couple of weeks after one of the families exhumed the body of a kin buried on the disputed land and took it to Longonot public cemetery.

A village elder, David Gikonyo, said that the dispute started a couple of years ago after a family from Nyeri bought a section of the land from a family member.

He added that this split the Naivasha family, who vowed that they would not budge from the land as it belonged to their father.

“The father had two wives and one of them sold part of her inheritance to the Nyeri family, who obtained a court order and exhumed the body of their late mother,” he said.

Gikinyo added that the family from Nyeri arrived ready to fence the land only to be met with hostility  from the other family.

“A fight erupted, and the 65-year-old woman who had travelled from Nyeri was hit on the head and died on the spot as other parties engaged in a physical fight,” he said.

Naivasha OCPD Wilson Sigei confirmed the incident, adding that no arrests had been made, though all the parties involved in the fight had recorded statements.

“The Naivasha family claims that the deceased was hit by a car while fleeing the scene, but CID officers have taken over the matter,” said the police boss.

The body was collected and taken to Naivasha Sub-County Hospital mortuary.