A family in Kirie Sub-location in Mbeere North Sub-county, Embu, is crying for justice following the death of their kin under unclear circumstances two years ago.
The body of Retired Assistant Chief, Charles Nyaga, was retrieved from a shallow seasonal river a few meters from his homestead on March 18, 2021, at around 11 am.
The discovery followed a long morning search by family members after he was reported not to have come back home the previous night after an evening outing with a friends.
His son, Amos Ndwiga, said his father spent the day sorting a land dispute with a neighbor with the office of area Deputy County Commissioner, Chief, his Assistant and village elders.
“After the meeting, we all shook hands, took photos together and everyone left the venue having been satisfied that the matter that revolved around water was settled amicably,” Ndwiga said.
He said he was the last person to speak to his father at around 6 PM at Kirie Trading Center only to learn of his disappearance the following morning as his wife Eunice Nyaga went to serve him breakfast.
“It seems after his outing with friends, he never got home and that is the much we know,” Ndwiga said, insisting their father was killed elsewhere and his body dumped into the river.
The family disputed the postmortem report that ruled the cause of his death to be drowning, saying the body had bruises on the face and his belly was flat unlike is the case with drowning where victims suffer swollen bellies as a result of intake of water.
“The bruises and the flat belly makes us raise eyebrows that our father could have been killed elsewhere and body dumped into the river to disguise the cause of death,” he said.
He said investigations launched into the death have not made headway so far as no arrest had been made leaving them to wonder if they will ever get justice.
“We now live in fear because the killers of our father could be lurking around the locality and we could unknowingly be their next target,” he said.
They called on the government to assist them unearth the cause of death of their father who they said was an innocent man who served the area people as an administrator with passion and dedication.
“It has been a long and winding journey of trying to get justice with no avail and our plea now is to the government to intervene to help solve the riddle and enable us to get closure,” his widow Eunice Nyaga said.
Efforts to reach office of Mbeere North Sub-County Police Commander were not successful as phone calls went unanswered.
By Samuel Waititu
