A tout operating on the Free Area route in Nakuru town is nursing injuries after he was attacked and seriously injured on Wednesday by an irate passenger whom he allegedly insulted by calling gay.
An eye witness Julius Kuria, a matatu driver on the route, said the tout, Hosea Mwaniki, had hurled insults at the passenger at the Free Area matatu stage after disagreeing with him over the balance to be given to the passenger.
According to Kuria the youthful tout had tried to deny the passenger the balance arguing that he had already given it to him but after a heated argument the tout handed him Ksh30 change to the middle-aged man while hurling insults at him suggesting that he was gay.
“The passenger got annoyed and rushed back at the stage, grabbed the tout by the collar and hit him on the head and face before starting to kick him. He then lifted the tout up with his both hands and threw him hard on the ground and kicked him several times daring the bleeding tout to repeat what he had just said,’’ said the eye witness.
He added that other matatu crew members declined to support the tout as he had expected because they realised that he was the one on the wrong.