Emerging details indicate that the Chief who was allegedly lynched by villagers in Kiamaindi location was living on borrowed time.
Japheth Mayau was attacked by his subjects who were hunting for his brother Gikware Mukengu on Tuesday, after which they slashed him with pangas and burnt his body.
But his family now claims that he has been dealing with death threats since he was picked to take the administrative seat.
Family spokesman James Muthengi said that some people were not happy with his government job, and now claims that the remaining family members are also fearing for their lives.
“As a family, we are living in fear and we ask the government to ensure our lives are safe. We have been receiving endless threats from neighbours and the threats indeed resulted in the chief’s death,” Muthengi told the Standard.
Contrary to initial reports that Mayau was killed by irate villagers, Muthengi now claims that it was done by bitter persons who have not been happy with him.
This follows claims that the chief was murdered in revenge after his brother allegedly killed a fellow villager named Gitonga Kabuibe who was found buried near Thuci River last month.
The killing was followed by the murder of Chuka OCS Joseph Kinyua who was allegedly killed while attempting to arrest David Ikaaba, one of the murder suspects in Embu County.
General Service Unit (GSU) and Administration Police (AP) officers have since been deployed to the village to flush out the killers.