There was drama at the Njoro shopping centre on Saturday morning after Egerton University students stormed a residential estate and attacked a middle-aged man, accusing him of a series of thefts in the area.
The students, who live in an adjacent estate at the shopping centre, accused Simon Kinyanjui, a taxi operator, of stealing from them at night while ferrying them to their rooms.
“He usually takes advantage of our drunken states to frisk our pockets and take the little we have,” lamented Edward Etemesi.
On the material day, Kinyanjui is said to have dropped four of them in the wee hours of the morning but forced them to pay double the amount by threatening them with a metal bar.
“We became suspicious after he started making phone calls saying that he was calling for reinforcement,” said Musa Ali.
The students are said to have paid the double amount after some commotion ensued with one of them complaining of losing a wallet in the process.
“These guys operate an organised gang because in less than five minutes, his reinforcement of more than five people arrived and started harassing us, luckily, none of us was injured,” Musa added.
The students waited till morning before making a retaliatory attack after one of them identified Kinyanjui and traced where he lived.
It took the intervention of area police officers to restore order with the more than 30 students baying for Kinyanjui’s blood.
A thorough inspection led to recovering of several student cards, ATM cards, ID cards and a number of mobile phones.
Kinyanjui was locked up at the Njoro AP post to help police with investigation but police boss Simon Lenkole cautioned the students against mob justice.
“It’s always advisable to involve the police in such cases because mob justice is against the law. What if the suspect died, who could have taken responsibility? he said.