A village in Kakamega County is in shock after a man attacked his 89-year-old grandmother and set her house on fire.The woman, identified as Floice Lisero perished in the fire which razed down her home in Eshitimba Village, Khusiku sub-location, Khwisero sub-county on Monday night.
The suspect, aged 40, is reported to have attacked his grandmother after she declined his request for money.When she didn’t give him the money, he got infuriated and cut down banana plants and destroyed other crops in the compound before neighbours intervened and locked him in his house.
The man is suspected to have been abusing drugs, which drove him to behave violently.
Khwisero sub-county police commander Samuel Kogo said the suspect, was rescued by police officers after villagers tried to lynch him at Ebukambuli market, as his fled from the village.
“We will have to take him to be examined by a psychiatrist to confirm his state of mind before preferring any charges,” said Mr Kogo.
The police boss blamed family members for failing to protect the elderly woman who was living with her violent grandson.
He said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had been abusing drugs.
Ms Mary Okiso, 70, the first-born daughter of the deceased said that the suspect had attacked her mother after he approached her for money.
She said the suspect thought her grandmother, who is a beneficiary of the Cash transfer programme, had received some money after the village elder visited her home and informed her that the government had released the money to be paid to elderly.“He thought his grandmother had withdrawn the money because the previous day, the area village elder visited her to inform that the money had been released by the government and was ready for withdrawal,” said Ms Okiso.
Ms Okiso had visited her mother on Monday morning before she was viciously attacked and killed by her grandson.
“When I visited her on Monday morning, I met the village elder, Joseph Njeka, who informed me that the money was ready and that I needed to go with my mother and withdraw the cash for her. But I had left her documents, which are under my custody, back in my home and promised to come the following day and take her to the bank,” narrated Ms Okiso.
When she got home in Siaya and was preparing to return to Khwisero the next day, she was informed that her grandmother had been killed after her grandson set the house on fire.
A nighbour, Ms Matilda Musita said they heard the woman screaming for help on Monday night and rushed to her home.
“I was accompanied by her two sons. We found the suspect trying to break into her grandmother’s house.
“There was a commotion as we rushed to Kukhu’s (grandmother’s) house to check what was happening. When we arrived, we pleaded with him to stop what he was doing before we grabbed him and locked him inside his house,” said Ms Musita.
Shortly after they were woken up by neighbours who were wailing after finding her mother’s house had been engulfed in flames.
“We rushed to the home and found that the suspect had broken the door of the house and sneaked in. He had dragged his grandmother to a chair and tied her with a rope before setting the house on fire.” Said Ms MusitaMr Amos Litunya, another neighbour, said the suspect had visited his home after the house caught fire and asked to fetch some water from a borehole to put off the blaze.
