Police nab main suspect in Isaac Juma murder
Police have arrested a suspect in connection to the gruesome murder of renowned football fan Isaac Juma Onyango, who was hacked to death on outside his house in Mumias.
Juma, a constant presence in the stands during Harambee Stars’ home matches, was brutally murdered at his rural home in Bukaya village, Mumias in Kakamega County.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) in a statement said it had arrested the main suspect behind the murder.
“The suspect, Milton Namatsi, 27, was picked from his house by sleuths based at Mumias after preliminary investigations linked him to the murder,” DCI said in a statement.
Police said that the machete-wielding gang approached Juma’s animal den and when he moved out of his house and approached the den alongside his son and a brother, the assailants turned on him cutting him several times on the head leaving him dead.
Speaking to the media, his wife Farida Juma alleged that her husband was killed owing to a land feud within the family after refusing to sell part of it.
She further stated the police had been informed earlier about the threat posed to him by close members, but no action had been taken.
“All I heard were screams from him after being hacked by people who were hiding outside, armed with crude weapons. From the way he had been cut, we could not help him. All this happened because of land, there have been fights with some of his siblings who wanted him to sell them a piece of it but he refused. They had initially beaten him up and he reported the matter to the police. The culprits were arrested but later released. Before his death, he was again threatened and reported the same, but no action had been taken,” she said.
Mumias West Sub-county Police Commander Stephen Muoni said Juma died on the spot.
According to police, Juma’s body lay in a pool of blood outside his house before it was moved by security officers to St Mary’s hospital mortuary.
Juma who was a newspaper vendor in Nakuru before retiring on his farm in Mumias was an ardent football fan who religiously supported the country’s national team Harambee Stars and the AFC Leopards.
The suspect is currently in custody and is being processed for arraignment on Friday to answer murder charges.