A 17-year-old boy from Mutuate village in Meru County is nursing serious injuries at the Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital after a group of three men known to him brutally attacked him Saturday, chopping off both his arms for allegedly stealing Miraa from their farm.
The teenager, Stanley Kinoti, told Citizen Digital that he was heading to the market that night when he was approached by three men, a popular business man in the area and his two sons, who threatened to cut off his head and arms before attacking him with a machete.
“One of the boys said ‘let us cut his arms and take him back home’,” said Kinoti.
He added that the man then inflicted deep cuts on his head before removing his trousers, leaving him naked and bleeding.
The teenager reportedly freed himself from the group and took to the bush towards his home where his relatives took him to the health facility.
Karimi Mbogo, a lawyer who voluntarily agreed to represent the victim, said justice must be done to the boy as he comes from a family of ageing parents.
“This is pure impunity just because the young man comes from a humble family,” Mbogo said.
“I have come into the picture because the community where the boy comes from was very saddened by the incident,” he added.
Mbogo said the victim was taking care of his elderly and weak parents and after the heinous act he could not do it anymore.
The three men have since been arrested and are waiting to be arraigned in court.
Cases of assault and deaths in connection with theft of miraa are in the rise in Meru County, and farmers allege that security agencies are doing little to stamp out the vice.
