An angry mob in Kisumu has killed a suspected thief in what now seems like a growing trend of moblynching.
The thief, a street boy, was suspected of stealing a phone in the Thursday morning event that happened along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway.
According to Kevin Otieno, a witness, the residents nabbed the suspect as he fled with the gadget at around 5am, before they embarked on stoning him.
"It was around 5am. They started beating him with stones all the way from the other side of the road to here,” he told the Daily Nation.
The residents demanded that the suspect tell them the whereabouts of the handbag in which the phone was kept, before finally setting him on fire.
Confirming the incident, Kisumu County Police Commander Job Boronjo urged residents to cease taking the law into their own hands and turn suspected criminals to the police for legal procedures.
"Residents should refrain from killing suspects. We are warning against mob justice. Let the police do their work,” Mr. Boronjo is quoted by the paper.
The incident comes barely two days after another lynching scenario that saw another suspect lose his life in the hands of an irate mob.
The thief is said to have broken into a house in PolyView estate before stealing a laptop and two phones at around 3:30 am.