Nyamira County has become infamous for murders and other serious crimes, which have raised concerns among the general public and police as many of them have gone unresolved.
As the crime rate rises, affected families have accused the police of not doing enough to nail the culprits, with claims that rogue officers are helping some of them to evade arrest.
In addition, the execution of some of the crimes indicates the culprits are highly sophisticated.
A case in point is that of a US-based Kenyan couple Edward and Grace Morema. At their funeral on Friday, the family asked for Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki’s intervention, saying they had been left in the dark amid investigations.
The couple’s murder came less than two years after that of their nephew, who was found dead in Nairobi.
Although police arrested two workers at the couple’s home, there are no records available to show how far they have gone in cracking the case.
Police in Nyamira told the Nation that they are still conducting investigations, but assured relatives that the killers would be brought to book.
Another incident involved the brutalisation of a standard eight pupil at Bitundugusu Primary School on March 24. He was left with a swollen scrotum. A subsequent surgery saw an incurably injured testicle removed surgically.
Police in Nyamira said the boy’s mother filed an assault report vide OB number 14.03.04.2023 and that investigations had commenced to establish the circumstances under which the teachers brutalised the boy.
There are no records to show that police intend to arrest the alleged culprits though they recorded statements.
In yet another incident, a Grade Four pupil at Riang’ombe Adventist Primary Boarding School was savagely beaten up three weeks ago and left with very serious injuries.
The nine-year-old pupil was allegedly given 107 strokes of the cane after he went to report the theft of his clothes from the dormitory.
The beating was so severe that the child had a deep gaping wound after muscles were broken.
Five suspects – the boarding master, school head teacher, deputy, a Grade 4 class teacher and the matron – were questioned.
Nyamira County Police Commander James Mitugo said they have intensified the search for the main suspect who went into hiding just hours before police could arrest him.
“Unfortunately he was able to escape the police dragnet, but we will get him. We are tracking him. He was last seen around Manga,” said Mr Mitugo.
The boy’s uncle told the Nation on Wednesday that not much progress has been made in the case.
“The police keep telling me they are following it up but nothing much is happening,” he said.
In December last year, a primary school teacher was bludgeoned to death but the killers have remained at large.
Mr Ezekiel Nkeere Gitangwa, 47, went missing on December 30, 2022. His mutilated body was found the next day, rolled in a carpet and hidden in a poultry house belonging to a nurse in Nyamira.
Police had to break into the house of the Nyamaiya Health Centre nurse to access the body. The health worker was not in the house.
The nurse went into hiding but police arrested two people in connection to the crime.
In another unresolved case, a man’s remains, stuffed in two gunny bags, were tossed from a speeding car at Konate junction in Nyamira on September 13, 2021.
The man, Mr Thomas Oyaro, was a US based nurse from South Mugirango in Kisii County.
His head, arms and legs had been severed.
No arrests were made in relation to this particular case.
Following these bizarre incidents, Nyamira residents want the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Director of Public Prosecution to take serious action and set timelines for resolving the cases. BY DAILY NATION