A pastor from Matithi village in Kiharu, Kenya’s Murang'a county took the law into his own hands as he proceeded to the house of a 43-year-old man in the company of no other than a police officer and his other siblings to attack him for allegedly stealing his goats.
James Mwangi Kinyanjui was suspected by pastor Joe Migwi of stealing eight of his goats, and instead of reporting the matter to the police who have the mandate to deal with it, the man of God chose to handle it his own way.
According to Tuko.co.ke, pastor Migwi woke up in the night of Monday, June 10, and called four of his siblings, one of whom is an Administration Police officer attached to the VIP escort in Kiambu county to accompany him to the victim’s house.
"I was asleep after a hard day's work and it was my wife who alerted me that she had heard footsteps of people who were in our compound who had gained access by scaling over the chain link fence.
"I wondered what was amiss and after I opened the door, I found the officer by the name Nyoike pointing a pistol on my head as his three other brothers stood menacingly beside him," James Mwangi Kinyanjui narrated.
They forcibly took him to the pastor’s house amidst interrogations regarding the said stolen goats, which he denied knowledge of, saying he had been laboring on somebody’s farm all day, so could not have stolen the goats in question.
The victim added: "As they were interrogating me, a fire was burning nearby and after I pleaded innocence that I had nothing to do with the stolen animals, they pulled down my trouser and underwear. They then repeatedly put the panga into the fire and after it was red hot, they placed it on my bottom and thighs. I screamed loudly due to excruciating pain."
Aside burning him with a hot cutlass, pastor Migwi who was bent on hearing James Mwangi Kinyanjui admit to the theft reportedly brought out a pair of pliers with which they squeezed Kinyanjui’s testicles, and no amount of screaming by the victim nor pleas by his family members could stop the man of God and his siblings from assaulting him.
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"I was helpless. My wife and my mother wailed loudly as they pleaded with them not to continue assaulting me. They had kept a distance fearing the officer who held a gun on his hand could fire at them," James Mwangi Kinyanjui further narrated tearfully.
After brutalizing the father of two, they then marched him to house of his neighbour who testified that he had indeed been working on his farm the whole day, and logically, could not have stolen the goats in question.
It is reported that one of the victim’s brothers offered to pay for the cost of the goats to the tune of KSh 40,000 in monthly installments, just to see his brother liberated from the heartless attackers.
Currently, James Mwangi Kinyanjui is unable to pass urine and has to remain standing for almost the whole day due to the excruciating pain.
As human rights advocates are piling pressure on the authorities, offering to fight for justice for the victim, Murang'a county Police Commander Josephat Kinyua is reported as saying he had not been briefed about the incident, vowing to take it up.
"The allegations are serious if proven especially when touching on an officer who is supposed to be the custodian of the law. We will collect all the statements from the witnesses and we will forward them to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for guidance.
“I want to assure the victim that we have nothing to hide and justice has to prevail no matter who the perpetrator is even if it is one of our officers."
One can only hope that, as the police boss has assured, the perpetrators of this atrocious act are arrested to face the rigors of the law.