Four months ago, 85-year-old Mary Njoki was set ablaze and burnt to death on the suspicion of being a witch.
In an ordeal that went on for over two hours, she was allegedly tortured into confessing she was a witch, beaten into losing consciousness, then doused in Kerosene and set ablaze by the villagers.
Mary and her neighbour who was also the victim of the attack were raided by men armed with crude weapons who forced them out of the house and dragged them down the road where they committed the heinous action.
Mary’s son, Patrick Mwangi says on that fateful night, her parents were in the house alone when the lawless men attacked and killed his mother.
He was later forced to move his elderly father from their home after the incident.
According to him, the family is still in shock, yet to come to terms with what happened to their mother. The home that was once frequented by people stands alone, isolated by the villagers.
His sister now occupies what used to be their parents’ house. He notes that she sometimes complains about the ill treatment she gets from some of the villagers
“My father did not feel safe anymore, if they killed our mother, they might have come for him too and that’s why we decided to move him. He is still traumatized. Witnessing your wife die like that is not an easy thing. I was born and raised in this village, we were well-known members of the catholic church, and my mother was a dedicated church woman,” he said
He believes his mother might have been killed because of her shylock business. “She used to lend the villagers money, and they would pay her back with interest. She had several bad debts that some did not want to pay back.”
“My mother was not a witch, I do not understand why she was accused of something she did not even believe in, then murdered in a macabre manner, she was probably lynched by people I might have played with growing up or attended the same school with, people who knew my family for decades,” he said
The family seeks to know who mastermind the attack and hopes to get justice.
