A Form Four candidate was on Saturday evening slashed to death by an angry mob at Sigalagala market over claims he had stolen a mobile phone.
Seventeen-year-old Rodgers Bett, a student at Burendwa Secondary School had just finished sitting for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) on Friday.
“They killed my son claiming he is a thief and that’s not true. He had just finished sitting his KCSE exams and we knew he was going to uplift the family in future but that dream has been cut short. We are not happy with what the mob did to our son,” said Beatrice Khalenya, the deceased's mother.
According to Ms Khalenya, the killing of her son was that of mistaken identity since he has never been convicted before of any crime.
Rosemary Khayeshe, a sister to the deceased, said when they got information that her brother had been attacked by the mob at the market, they rushed to the scene to try and plead with them to spare his life but that fell on deaf ears.
“The mob threatened to ‘discipline’ us like our brother if we dared stand on their way while discharging their duties. The mob was led by Nyumba Kumi officials to kill our brother. It’s very unfortunate to lose a young man prematurely,” said Khayeshe.
Shinyalu Sub County Police Commander Robert Makauon said a businessman in the area compained that the student stole his mobile phone.
According to the businessman, identified as Makau, the phone had been off and two days later after tracking it again, they located it and found in his (suspect's) house.
“He escaped the hand of the police when they went to arrest him and the mob caught up with him at the market and descended on him. We later recovered the phone from his girlfriend,” said Makau.
Makau said they rushed the deceased to Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. He said his body is being preserved at the facility’s morgue.
“We are calling upon wananchi to stop taking law into their hands but take suspects to the police to take action,” said Makau.
