A suspect riding on a motorbike was stoned to death by a mob along Jogoo road on Friday last week as he tried escaping after snatching a mobile phone from a woman.
The man, according to eyewitnesses had grabbed the phone from a woman walking on a road in the Eastlands area, Nairobi which prompted her to raise an alarm.
"I was walking on the road while talking on my mobile phone when it was abruptly grabbed by the man riding a motorbike and sped off after snatching it. I shouted loudly forcing several bodaboda operators to pursue him and he was blocked by other operators from fleeing," said the victim who sought anonymity for security reasons.
The incident happened near Makadara law courts which are next to the local Makadara sub-county deputy county commissioner office (previously known as kwa DC).
According to the victim, after the suspect grabbed her phone she sped off and joined Jogoo road headed to the city and was accosted by bodaboda riders coming from Kaloleni side who together with others that were following him blocked him at the Uchumi bus stop area.
An eye witness said that the bodaboda riders were joined by other members of the public in stoning the suspect as they claimed that so many people had in the recent past lost their phones through that kind of theft.
"These thieves have been terrorizing us for a long by stealing phones from people walking while answering phone calls and this is a better way to end this kind of crime or silence it," said area resident Judith Mono.
Police from the nearby Jogoo Road police station and Makongeni police station arrived a few minutes after the suspect had been killed and took the body to the City Mortuary.
Makadara sub-county police commander Judith Nyongesa called on members of the public not to take the law into their hands but to arrest suspects and hand them over to police.
"It`s true a suspect was killed along Jogoo road by a mob but I urge members of the public not to resort to killing suspects but arrest them and hand them to police officers who will later arraign them in court to answer charges. If they are found guilty they will be jailed," said the OCPD.
