Shock as irate mob lynches murder suspect after storming police post in Nandi

An irate mob baying for the blood of a murder suspect who had been placed in police custody stormed Chemase Police Post in Nandi County on Thursday night demanding for him, in the latest mob attack on a police station.

The 30-year-old suspect, Victor Kimtai, is reported to have beheaded a man and dumped his head in a pit latrine in Chebusias before threatening to repeat the act on his immediate family members.

Angry and in fear, locals alerted the area MCA of the happenings, who then informed the local police.

The suspect was then arrested, interrogated, and placed in custody at Chemase Police Post waiting to be transferred to Potopoto Police Station.

An initial search for the missing head was unsuccessful but it was later retrieved the following day from a well.

Angry at the suspect's actions, an irate mob stormed the police post, threw stones at it, and shouted at the officers present to free the suspect as they bayed for his blood.

"The irate crowd then set ablaze the station's motor vehicle, a Ford GK pickup, lowered the national flag, and burnt them down," the police said in a report filed at Potopoto Police Station.

Stoned to death

"After rescuing the suspect they stoned him to death and burned his dead body. They then dispersed in different directions," the report adds.

Three police officers sustained injuries in the ensuing melee as some items including a printer, a computer, the occurrence book, files, a table, a chair, and a radio transceiver went missing.

Police believe the items were stolen during the incident that also left the station partly destroyed.

The remaining officers then processed the scene and moved the remains to the Nandi Hills mortuary.

Following the incident, Police Spokesperson Resila Onyango has urged members of the public to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and allow the law to take its course once a suspect has been arrested.

"The destruction of police property as was witnessed at Chemase Police Post when a police vehicle was burnt down yesterday by an irate member of the public only hampers police inefficiency in offering the much-needed services to members of the public. In the spirit of community policing, we urge the members of the public to cooperate with the police to enhance security within our areas," she said on Friday morning.

The worrying trend follows similar incidents that occurred last year, amongst them one in Karung'e village in Mathioya in August where hundreds of irate locals stormed the Karung'e Patrol Base on claims that a murder suspect was being held there.

The mob wanted to lynch the suspect and only left the scene after confirming that he was not being held at the post.