A teacher hacked to death and her body set ablaze was attacked in front of her two daughters, witnesses said.
Daisy Mbaluka Mbathe, a teacher at Ndooni Primary School in Kitui, was attacked on Monday by an irate mob allegedly over the school’s poor results in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams.
DAYLIGHT ATTACK
The mob blocked a village footpath near the teacher’s home in Malalani, Kitui East and grabbed her from a moving motorcycle, which was ferrying the victim and her two daughters to school.
The girls were on their way to report to secondary school for first term.
The girls watched as their mother was hacked to death and her body burned to ashes.
According to Knut executive secretary in Kitui Simon Nding’o, the mob accused the teacher of practicing witchcraft and tormenting their children where she worked.
But detectives are pursuing claims that the teacher was involved in a love triangle that had gone sour and that the poor exams were just a smokescreen.
Mutito Sub-County police boss Consaga Malasi said investigators are following crucial leads that may lead to the arrest of more suspects, but they were yet to establish the exact motive of the killing.
The school’s head teacher Dickson Muasya and other members of his staff have since recorded statements with police regarding the incident.
On Thursday, police were allowed to detain two suspects for 21 days.
The suspects, Wambua Mwangangi and Chris Kyalo Muli, are accused of been part of a mob that ambushed the teacher.
They were arraigned before Kitui Resident Magistrate Felistus Nekesa, who granted police permission to detain the suspects at Mutitu Police Station, pending conclusion of investigation into the brutal murder.
The school was closed following the incident. (Story was first published in the Daily Nation)