Angry residents of Githabai village in Kinangop Nyandarua County caused drama at Githabai police station after breaking into a cell where a suspected livestock thief was locked, before beating him to death.

The incident happened on Saturday March 30, 2024 after the suspect was arrested and locked up at the police station. 

According to the locals who spoke to TV47, they were tired of incidents where police officers release theft suspects instead of sending them to prison.

They had demanded that police release the suspect for them to discipline him but the officers resisted, leading to them gathering and removing the suspect from the police cells by force.

The incident happened after several cases of livestock theft were reported in the county, in the past one month.

For instance, more than 100 cows have been stolen and cases of goat and chicken thefts were also on the rise.

The residents revealed that it was difficult to get the suspects behind the thefts and even not easy to recover the stolen stock.

The residents claimed that the security teams in the area have been sleeping on their job and it was high time for the administration to transfer some officers who have been linked to the menace.

On his side, Peter Nzimbi, South Kinangop Police  commander, assured residents that his security team has already launched an investigation to flush out all culprits.

“Residents together with the police did investigations and discovered the thief who stole the cattle. He was arrested but unfortunately angry residents overpowered our officers and forcefully removed the suspect from police cells before lynching him,” said the police commander. 

He urged residents to partner with police in the war against theft of livestock and other emerging cases of insecurity in the region.

The body of the deceased was moved to Engineer level 4 hospital mortuary.