Woman’s home turns into fortress for carjacking victims
A house in Kitisuru has become a fortress for victims of carjacking who are abandoned by their captors at a nearby coffee plantation.
The owner of the house, who bought it six months, says she has had to put up with screams from outside her gate almost every night
And at least three injured people knock on her gate to seek help every month.
Located in Kitisuru West, about 18km from the Central Business District, the neighbourhood has witnessed untold trauma of city residents abandoned after being robbed and tortured.
Three gunmen
Near the home is a coffee plantation where Mrs Jean Njeri Muhoho, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s aunt was dumped after being robbed by three gunmen on Tuesday night.
Mrs Muhoho, wife of former Kenya Airports Authority CEO George Muhoho, was carjacked on Uhuru Highway at around 8pm and robbed of Sh20,000, her ATM cards, her phones and shoes before being dumped.
At least three times every week, this woman’s family has had to call security firms to come to their home to pick up carjacking victims.
“Most of the time it happens a few minutes before or past midnight, on Fridays. The carjackers steal from their victim, remove the headlights of their cars and leave them at the coffee plantation,” she states.
“When they come, most of them usually do not know where they are and do not have their mobile phones because they have been robbed. Some of them arrive at the gate badly wounded and even without clothes or shoes,” she added.
“Since we are also not sure who they are, we do not open the gate for them. We call the security firm to come and pick them up,” she said.
“The Nyari police station is not far from here, but the problem is that the policemen are few and sometimes they are dealing with crime elsewhere, yet the security guards have to come with armed policemen because the carjackers are always armed,” she went on.
Most of the carjacking victims are taxi drivers, women and owners of big cars, she said, mostly drawn from Westlands, Lavington, Parklands and Karen.
On Wednesday, February 26, a taxi driver from Delight was robbed and dumped in the area by a person who sought his services posing as a client.
“The man said he had been asked to pick a client from the city centre and drop him at Ruaka where he was cornered by thugs in a separate car.
“They forced him to the back seat and drove to the coffee plantation at 10pm,” a security guard at the home said.
Just a week earlier, a lady was carjacked from Mombasa Road and dumped at around 11:30pm.
Nairobi County Deputy County Commandant, Moses Ombati said he was not aware that the area was a haven for criminals.
He said the police force would deploy more officers to the area and asked residents to give information leading to the arrest of the criminals.