Four people have been killed in three separate robbery incidents in Nyamira County.
In the first incident, two people were lynched in a foiled church robbery incident at Nyairicha village of Bonyamatuta Chache location on Sunday at dawn.
Area OCPD Rico Ngare said the suspected “well-known thieves” were beaten up thoroughly before their bodies were set ablaze.
A motorcycle belonging to one of the lynched suspects and which they were using at the time was destroyed and burnt and reduced to a wreck at the scene.
“The two had attempted to steal from a local church but when they were spotted, an alarm was raised. The villagers who responded caught up with them and lynched them,” Mr Ngare said.
He said the murdered suspects are said to have stolen some property from the church recently but they were not lucky to loot the same house of God for the second time.
Earlier, he added, the suspects, he identified as Mr Philip Moire Maiko, 33 and Mr Charles Viema, 23 had committed a series of robberies along Nyangoge-Nyairicha-Nyamira on Saturday midnight while using the burnt motorcycle.
Some villagers who did not want to be identified said that the suspects were well-known thugs who have been giving them sleepless nights.
“They have been involved in rape and violent robberies in this area. Their elimination is a good riddance,” one of the villagers said.
However, the police boss urged area residents not to take the law into their own hands by lynching suspects.
The bodies were removed from the scene and taken to Nyamira County referral hospital mortuary as police continued with investigations.
In the second incident, a suspected car robber was murdered and his body dumped near Nyamaiya Divisional headquarters on Saturday.
Mr Ngare said the suspect, whose identity is yet to be established, was killed elsewhere and his body dumped at the scene.
“Criminal investigation officers are following leads that are associating the murder to a vehicle which was stolen from Ting’a market recently,” he said.
The third murder incident occurred at Riamanoti village of Borabu sub-county where a suspected thief was lynched in a foiled robbery.
The suspect whose identity is yet to be established was cornered and killed by angry villagers when he and his accomplices attempted to steal from the home of Mr Antony Nyamwaya.