Proverbial 40 days of a thief had finally reached for Samwel Muchechi who led a notorious gang that reigned terror onTetu villagers

The public mills around crime scenes. Samwel Muchechi Waweru was killed by his sisters. He was responsible for his mother’s and brother’s death.

By JOSEPH KARIMI

For several years, Tetu District in Nyeri had remained a crime prone area. The notorious Muchechi gangsters had imposed a night curfew, reigning terror round the clock.

I was teaching in a school near Gathinga trading centre in 1968, when Muchechi’s gang operated in full force. Muchechi boys used to harass teachers in the school in broad daylight.

One afternoon, I witnessed a colleague teacher stabbed on the shoulder with a knife by his former student because he had imposed corporal punishment on him. The boy had come back to the school to revenge. The teacher who hailed from the area would not dare report the incident to the police for fear of repercussions.

Besides attacking teachers, the gang also raped school girls on their way home, exorted money among other vices. 

The terror gang continued terrorising villagers and not even the village chiefs escaped the horror. It was so vicious and thorough that the chief of Aguthi Location ,Henry Wambugu had been cowed, fearing to crack the whip on them.

But like the proverbial 40 days of a thief, the gang leader’s final day eventually manifested.

MOTHER KILLED

Easter Sunday of April 15, 1973, turned into a day of jubilation for people of  Gaki in Tetu District following the killing of one of their sons, Samwel Muchechi Waweru, then aged 21.

Muchechi, a self styled “General” of the terror gang, which roamed Gathinga trading centre and its environs, was associated with the death of his own mother and that of his brother.

 At around 8am, Muchechi walked to his mother’s home at Gichira where his sisters stayed overnight after the funeral of his brother John Wamwangi.

It was suspected that Muchechi had strangled his brother in his Land Rover matatu as they drove home from Nyeri during the evening of April 5.

It was no secret among the family members that Muchechi had also killed his mother in cold blood one night in June 1973. She had declined to surrender the same document that Muchechi wanted his brother to produce. The terrorist wanted to mortgage the family land for a substantial amount of money to set up a business.

One of his sisters, Mary Nyambura, narrated the chilling events when they eventually beat Muchechi to death. 

LAND TITLE DEED

“When Muchechi arrived, he grabbed my brother’s wife  by the collar of her dress demanding the family’s land title deed, my mother’s death certificate and her husband’s bank account. Mrs Wamwangi was in late stages of pregnancy and she screamed for help as Muchechi forcefully pushed her around. Muchechi then grabbed an axe lying on the ground and wielded it over her head. My two sisters and I sprang to our feet and tried to snatch the axe from his hands without success. We knew well that the outcome would be fatal. It was now becoming a brutal fight. We were yelling for help but no neighbours would dare come to our help for fear of this terrorist,” said Nyambura.

One of the sisters managed to wrestle the axe off Muchechi’s hands and struck him on the head. Muchechi slumped onto the floor. “We did not know he had been overcome. We ran towards Gichira Chief’s Camp fearing he would get to his feet and kill us,” she said.

They then led the police to their home only to find their brother monster lying dead, with blood gushing from his head wound. 

The sequence of events after Muchechi’s death was amazing. When word spread that the monster had been floored, villagers took to jubilation and those heading to Church  joined to celebrate the death of this vicious terrorist.

Even in the pubs, friends toasted glasses of  beer to celebrate the end of terror.

His body was taken to Nyeri Hospital Mortuary, which had no refrigeration facilities thus corpses had to be buried hurriedly. Scores of people from far and wide came to the mortuary to see the body, which was put on display to satisfy the curiosity of the public.

SET COFFIN ON FIRE

Muchechi’s friends who included members of his gang collected his body and headed to his parents’ home in Gichira for burial. There, they found hostile family members and neighbours all armed to the teeth, warning that Muchechi be buried in a cemetery. They were ready with paraffin to set the coffin on fire had the bearers abandoned it. 

After assessing the hostility, the pallbearers took the body to Nyeri cemetery. They buried Muchechi in this “No Man’s Land” space and planted three sisal plants marking his gave.

Following the incident, three women including two sisters were arrested by police and charged with the murder of Samwel Muchechi Waweru.

MURDER CASE

Sisters Dorcas Wamaitha Mathenge and Mary Nyambura Waweru as well as Esther Nyanjumbi Achieng appeared before a Nyeri Resident Magistrate SM Njayakio, who heard a preliminary inquiry into the death of the terrorist.

They were alleged to have jointly murdered Muchechi on April 14 at Gichira village of Aguthi Location, Nyeri District.

After several days of a hearing, the court ruled that the three women “killed in self-defence” and discharged them. Mr Njayakio noted that Muchechi had attempted to kill the three women, who acted in self-defence. “The activities of the deceased in the area had become intolerable,” he concluded.

The ruling was welcomed with wild cheers and followed with jubilation as hundreds of villagers who packed the court room carried the sisters shoulder high singing songs of praise.