By Martin Masai and Correspondents
Machakos, Kenya — Three young men who were brutally killed by a mob at Crossroads in the middles of Machakos Municipality early last Sunday have been identified.
This comes as close friends and neighbours demand an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
The victims — Charles Mutiso(25), Stanley Muthungu(29) and Kennedy Katuu(22)— were attacked and burned to death after allegations emerged that they had attempted to carjack a motorist. The attackers are believed to be Boda Boda operators.
For a good four days their parents who remained wondering separately over their whereabout, until they visited the Machakos hospital mortuary at the height of the search.
However, nearly a week later, the families say critical questions remain unanswered, while police have yet to retrieve CCTV footage that could establish exactly what transpired before the fatal mob attack.
Police sources say a complaint was launched after the incident by a local Miraa trader. His vehicles was detained at Machakos Police Station. But journalists on the beat did not find it. There was no comment from the Machakos DCI office.
The case has shocked residents of Eastleigh Estate in Machakos, where the three young men were well known.
Muthungu and Katuu are brothers. Mutiso, meanwhile, had only returned to Machakos a few hours earlier with his mother, Connie Mutiso, the Principal of Kiambu School for the Deaf, where the family ordinarily resides.
According to relatives, the two families live on opposite sides of the same road and have known each other for years.
The three had reportedly gone out to watch the Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain football match before beginning the journey home in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Initial reports alleged that the trio attempted to carjack a motorist who raised an alarm, prompting boda boda operators and members of the public to descend on them.
The incident, including recovery of the bodies,occurred in the dead of the night and did not spread widely due to the timing- leaving the public to perceive it as a rumour.
The trio was beaten, sprayed with petrol and burned alive. Police subsequently collected the remains and transported them to the mortuary as unidentified persons.
But fresh accounts emerging from family members and witnesses have raised doubts about the original narrative.
According to information now circulating among relatives and residents, the incident may have begun when a vehicle allegedly struck Charles Mutiso on the leg, leading to a confrontation between the young men and the driver.
The driver is then alleged to have drawn a panga and screamed for help, attracting boda boda riders and members of the public whose intervention escalated into the deadly mob attack.
These claims have not yet been independently verified, making CCTV footage and forensic investigations critical to establishing the truth.
By Wednesday, families said investigators had not yet secured surveillance footage from the area that could help reconstruct the sequence of events.
The area is where the Machakos Clock Tower stood in the middle of a round-about. Now it is marked by Crossroads where Mwatu wa Ngoma, Ngei Road,Machakos-Wote and Machakos- Nairobi road meet. The place is covered by multiple CCTV cameras from local businesses,including Naivas Supermarket. If police were keen to crack the crime, they would have done it on Sunday morning.
For the bereaved families, the delay has deepened their anguish.Speaking emotionally after finally locating her son’s body four days after he disappeared, Connie Mutiso rejected claims that her son was a criminal.”I came with Charles from Kiambu where I work. I arrived with him on Saturday at around 6 p.m. He left to watch football and never came back,” she said.”I have stayed with him all this time. He is my son. I know he is not a thug. He is innocent.”
Fighting back tears, the grieving mother said the focus should now be on obtaining justice rather than speculation.”What I demand is justice for these boys. Nothing else.”She described the three as ordinary young men who grew up together in Machakos.”We are neighbours. They were born in Machakos. They went to school in Machakos. They grew up together. Why would they be killed? We need answers.”Mutiso said the loss had devastated both families, noting that she had known Kennedy and Stanley for many years.”As a mother, it is painful. We are bleeding as you see us here. I’ve known Kennedy and Stanley for many years. They were fighting for one another, and that is why they went together.”
She questioned why the state had failed to protect the young men from mob violence.”Where is the government? We need justice for our sons.”
The deaths have reignited concerns about the persistence of mob justice in Kenya, where suspects are frequently punished by crowds before investigations are conducted or evidence is examined.
Human rights defender- Mr Fred Lau sayd that regardless of the allegations against the three young men, no individual should be deprived of the constitutional right to due process.
As funeral preparations begin, residents of Eastleigh Estate are demanding a transparent investigation capable of answering several critical questions: What exactly happened at Crossroads? What role did the driver play? Who participated in the killings? Why were the victims burned alive? And why has key evidence such as CCTV footage not yet been secured?
For now, the families say they are not seeking sympathy.They are seeking the truth.And they want justice for Charles Mutiso, Stanley Muthungu and Kennedy Katuu.
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