Police in Nyahururu are holding a boutique owner and his employees over the death of a 17-year-old Form Two student accused of shoplifting an item from the shop last week.
According to Nyahururu Sub County Police Commander Jackline Gacheri, the employees of Seven-Sunday, a second-hand clothes shop located on Koinange Street within the town, were arrested on Sunday after a boy identified as Stephen Njuguna died from injuries he received following a beating by the employees.
The teenager is alleged to have shoplifted a garment worth Sh500, after which a staffer who spotted him in the act alerted the entire team, which descended on the boy with kicks and blows.
Persons familiar with the tragic story allege that the boy was held in communicado inside the shop, only to be released by the suspects after his conditions deteriorated.
Mr James Muraya, the deceased’s father, said he received a call from the shop owner demanding Sh5,000 to release the boy from custody.
According to Mr Muraya, the shop owner demanded to be paid Sh5,000 to release the boy.
“I sent my wife there, and she was told that the boy had stolen a cloth worth Sh500 and the rules demand that they should pay 10 times the amount which is Sh5000.
“The mother demanded to see her son first and the boy complained of pain, and she was told by the employees that the boy had been beaten,” said Muraya.
After sensing the boy’s life was in danger, the suspects allowed him to leave.
When he finally arrived home in Kisima village, in the Gatimu Ward of the Ol-Joro Orok Constituency, his condition worsened. He was then rushed to Nyahururu County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Prior to his tragic death, Njuguna had narrated to his mother how the suspects attacked him with crude weapons.
A postmortem examination disclosed that the victim succumbed to extensive chest and abdominal trauma, coupled with internal bleeding.
Following the incident, residents of Nyahururu town staged a protest on Tuesday, demanding legal action on the suspects who they accused of habitually assaulting people at the shop.
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