John Kibera, a reformed coffin robber shocked many people by his revelation of how he used to steal coffins from graves and sell them. He reformed to become a preacher.
He lives in Kibera where he argues everyone to shun away from crime as it doesn’t pay, instead it takes away your loved ones.
Mr Kibera, who is now a pastor, first got himself in a juvenile jail for stealing Sh150 at the age of 13. However, this never changed him as expected but made things worse for him. It was during his jail term that he developed his criminal minds.
He formed a gang, including his own wife. They started stealing coffins and selling them back to the same dealers who had sold them to the deceased family at about 70% the initial price.
To check for their “customers,” they checked on obituary pages in newspapers. People from the Luo and Kisii ethnicities were avoided for known reasons.
So John would attend the funeral arrangements and even contribute Sh10,000 to be counted as important in the burial plans.
He would then know the where the coffin will be bought from, its price and where burials will take place. After all these information if recorded, they then make their plans of stealing the coffin that night after burial.
One day, they stole a coffin from Lang’ata Nairobi cemetery, but the car that was meant to pick then never turned up. So, as they were walking away from the pick-up point, they spotted a newspaper vehicle. They hijacked it and took off with the coffin.
Two of his accomplices sat in front while he sat at the back of the van with the coffin. No sooner did they reach Kenyatta Avenue than the vehicle was intercepted with armed police officers. The vehicle was sprayed with bullets killing his two friends.
At this time, he had jumped into the coffin playing dead. The police came around the vehicle to check what the thieves had stolen. To their surprise, they discovered the two thieves had stolen a coffin with a dead man, John Kibera.
They then decided that the coffin with the dead man be taken to a mortuary as investigations are carried out. However, as the coffin was being offloaded, Kibera’s instincts told him that everyone fears the death, even police with guns.
So, he took this opportunity to scare them off. He shook the coffin. The police and all the people who had gathered at the scene took off at lightning speed. He got out of the coffin and too off too.
Later on, having realized his mistakes, John Kibera surrendered to the police and was jailed for 6 months. He changed his life while in prison and right now, he is one of the great pastors we have. He lives in Kibera where he argues people to shun away from crime as it doesn’t pay.
Here is the video
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