The police are now following a lead that a Catholic priest was killed as a sacrifice in an occult ritual.
It is the latest twist in investigations into the murder of Father Michael Kyengo, and emerged following the arrest on Wednesday of a third suspect said to have been the one who decapitated the priest.
Sacrificial lamb
According to police sources, detectives were led to the latest arrest by Michael Muthini Mutunga, who has been in police custody for a week after he was arrested in Makindu driving the priest’s car. The car had been repainted.
Sources said the suspect, who was arrested at Gategi in Embu, confessed to being a member of a cult that would purportedly grow his fortunes.
The suspect provided details of the cult’s website and offered log-in credentials into a site that helped detectives retrieve an application filled in by Mr Mutunga.
As a condition to scale the ladder in the cult, which the suspect identified as Illuminati Official Clun based in Sandton City, Johannesburg, South Africa, one had to sacrifice a close relative or friend.
The priest was a long-time friend of both the suspect and Mutunga.
“The priest was a sacrificial lamb. His best friend claims they sacrificed him in a secret cult they practice,” said an officer aware of the probe.
One of the documents recovered after logging into the site was reportedly Mutunga’s application, through which he had joined the group on September 1 last year. Mutunga indicated he had tried to join the Illuminati group six times.
“I fully have the potential to join Illuminati so as to become financially stable and help the community eradicate poverty, and shine in the society,” Mutunga wrote down in a section that requires one to explain why they wanted to join the group.
He describes himself as a pagan from Mbeere South.
“We are not a fan group. We are a group of dynamic individuals who stand forth as the ultimate underground alternative - the shadow elite. We realise what we have, what we are and what we shall become. Our scope is unlimited and the extent of your involvement is based upon your potential,” reads part of the form.
“Our requests are simple as you will soon find out and therefore may be hard to comprehend, but disloyalty is not tolerated. In return for your loyalty, you are presented the limitless life of wealth and opportunities in plenty.”
The filled out application form, a copy of which The Standard obtained, explains the group does not solicit for members and seeks to know how the applicant learnt about the society.
Mutunga said he was introduced to the group by friends who are already members.
Police are in possession of a book listing the names of 86 people and their contacts and who are either presumed to be members of the group, or potential recruits. Detectives say they will seek to interview them.
Shallow grave
Yesterday, Mutunga was arraigned in a Nairobi court, which allowed the police to detain him for 10 days to enable them to complete their investigations.
An investigator told the court Mutunga had confessed to being part of the gang that abducted the priest, robbed and killed him. The court was informed that upon his arrest, he led officers to a shallow grave in Makima ward, Embu, where the priest’s body was discovered on October 16.
Kyengo had gone missing on October 8 while travelling from his parents’ home in Tala to his Thatha parish in Masinga. The police suspect the priest was abducted and murdered on October 8 inside Mutunga’s house in Gategi. A knife that the police suspect is the murder weapon was retrieved from a pit latrine in the compound.
According to investigations, Mutunga had rented two rooms in Gategi. Blood-stained clothes were recovered from the house and have been taken to the Government Chemist for forensic analysis, said Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti.
The police say Kyengo’s body was cut into pieces, stuffed in a gunny bag and buried in Mashamba, a seasonal river between Makima trading centre and Mathare market.
