A Moi University student was attacked and killed by an ex-boyfriend Sunday night. The assailant was later lynched by irate students within the hostel.
Cecilia Cheruto, 23, is alleged to have been stabbed several times by her estranged boyfriend, who walked in her hostel room at Eldoret West estates and attacked her. She died in front of her cousin and friend.
Angry students
According to Scholastica Cheruto, the deceased's cousin, they were with another friend when Kevin Cheruiyot entered their house, locked the door and threatened them to remain silent as he deals with Cecilia.
“It was around 8pm when he stormed into the house, locked the door and warned us against making any movement. He said he wanted to finish his chapter with my cousin, and we should not attempt to intervene lest he kills all of us. He then picked a knife and stabbed her severally as we screamed for help,” she said.
Scholastica, who was sharing the room with Cecilia as she waited to commence her studies in Eldoret town said they watched helplessly because they were locked inside the house. "I didn't know there was bad blood between them. We were afraid he would also kill us," she says.
Students living within the hostel who rushed to the room on hearing the commotion attacked the assailant and lynched him.
Speaking at the scene, Eldoret West OCPD Smollets Munyianzi said police officers came in after other students had broken the door and rescued the other two occupants.
“The angry students attacked and killed the attacker when they realised he had killed his former girlfriend,” he said.
Mr Munyianzi called on students to be each other’s keeper and volunteer information to security agencies to avert similar happenings.
Other reports say the assailant was a student at Kisii University Eldoret Campus, but the institution’s security refuted the claims saying he is nowhere in their records, both at Eldoret and the Main Campus in Kisii.
“We found out the name of the assailant as Abraham Cheruiyot from Nandi County in Kaiboi sub-location. Such a person is not in our database,” said Simion Orora, Kisii University’s security manager.
According to Mr Orora, they found the identification card of Cheruiyot at Baharini Police Station. They called his Kabiyet location Chief, who said he only knew him as a resident and did not know if he was a student in any institution.
The bodies of the deceased persons were taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) mortuary.
