17-year-old Boy’s Hand Chopped Off After He Was Caught Stealing Medicinal Plant

A young boy had his hands chopped off with machetes after being accused of stealing miraa, medicinal flowering plant.

 According to Nairobi News, the 17-year-old victim, who hails from Mporoko village, was attacked by seven men while coming from a nearby shop. He sustained a deep cut on his head while both hands were chopped off at the wrist during the attack  and is currently recuperating at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya.

Speaking to Nairobi News from his hospital bed, the victim said he identified the assailants who included two young men, their father and grandfather.

“I was walking home on a path next to their farm when one of the men called me. Because I knew them, I went where they were. They started accusing me of being a miraa thief. While I was defending myself, one of them jumped and cut me on the head. One of them said they should not let me go without chopping off my hands. Their father tied my hands and placed them on a post. That is when their grandfather cut one of my hands and asked his grandsons to chop them off,” he said.

 The attackers stripped the boy naked and left him for dead in the middle of the nearby road so that he could not walk home, since it is a taboo for a circumcised man to walk naked.

“I hid myself in the bush until around 12am when I walked home. I reached home at around 2am,”

The victim’s lawyer Kirimi Mbogo said three suspects identified as Kirema M’Itirikia, M’Itirikia Itirikia and Stanley Kibundu are in police custody while four others are being sought by police.

“This is a very inhuman act and the suspects must be brought to book. As the family lawyer, we I will leave no stone unturned until justice is done for the family,” Mr Mbogo said.