A suspected motorcycle thief was lynched by residents of Madogo, in Tana River County following a botched attempt that left his victim fighting for his life in hospital.

The early morning incident occurred when the deceased suspect, accompanied by another accomplice who escaped, entered and tried to steal a parked motorcycle from a homestead alerting the owner, who came out to confront them.

During the commotion, the suspect was stabbed on the leg while the owner was stabbed in the neck and the chest, leaving him in critical condition.

Motorcycles have become a popular mode of transport in Kenya and the wider East Africa, where they provide a source income to hundreds of thousands of unemployed youth.

While confirming the incident, Bangali Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner Joseph Kipkorir, said that the confrontation alerted more neighbours who followed the suspect through a trail of blood and burned him to death.

“The information we have is like this is a syndicate of motorcycle theft and most of the stolen motorcycles are taken to Bura. We will work closely with the fellow security agencies in Bura so that we dismantle this criminal network,” Kipkorir said.

“We want to urge the citizens to stop taking law into their hands. If they had handed over the suspect to the police, then we would have interrogated him to uncover where the motorcycle was being taken and find out other suspects involved in this,” he added.

Athman Manyara, a local resident, regretted that such cases of robberies with violence had been on the rise and urged the local authorities to increase their efforts to tame the crime. Manyara said that some residents tried saving the suspects to wait for police but due to the public anger, the suspect could not be saved. 

“People here are fed up because this is the fourth incident in a span of two months and that is why they decided to lynch the suspect. Incidents like this are fuelling conflict between communities in Madogo because when a person from one tribe kills another from a different one, some people tend to blame the whole community,” Manyara said.

• A Tell Media / KNA report /By Erick Kyalo