Friends Recount Tragedies Richard Otieno Endured Before His Brutal Murder Near Elburgon Police Station
The gruesome murder of Molo activist Richard Otieno, popularly known as “Molo President,” has sparked public outrage. Otieno was hacked to death by unknown assailants on Saturday night, just 200 meters from Elburgon Police Station.
Angry residents took to the streets on Sunday, blocking the Njoro-Molo Road with stones and lighting bonfires. The protests escalated as they stormed the mortuary, retrieved Otieno’s body, and paraded it through the streets in a dramatic show of defiance.
Otieno had been out in Elburgon on Saturday night, watching a soccer match before heading home on a boda boda. According to sources, he was in high spirits and encountered no threats on his way home. However, tragedy struck when he alighted near his house around midnight. As he pulled out his phone to call his wife, attackers ambushed him, striking him with an axe and killing him instantly.
“He was hit on the back of his head with an axe,” a resident, Peter Gichuhi, confirmed. Another witness, Anne Kadot, described the fatal injury, saying, “His head had a deep cut from the attack.”
This wasn’t the first attempt on Otieno’s life. Two months prior, he had survived an assault in which he was struck on the head with a blunt object. His lawyer, Rosalinda Wamaitha, revealed that Otieno had been living in fear after receiving threats tied to his activism. She also confirmed that this was the third attack on her client.
“The second time he was attacked, I visited him in the hospital. Now he’s gone. What future do our young people have if this keeps happening?” Wamaitha asked.
Otieno was a vocal critic of Molo MP Kuria Kimani and had previously reported threats linked to his activism. However, Kimani has denied any involvement in the killing, urging authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and bring the culprits to justice.
Protesters, after marching with Otieno’s body, attempted to take it to MP Kuria’s residence before being dispersed by anti-riot police. The whereabouts of Otieno’s body remain unknown after it was taken by residents during the chaos.
The incident has left the community in shock, with many questioning how such a brutal murder could happen so close to a police station. Calls for justice continue to mount as the activist’s death exposes growing tensions and unresolved grievances in the region.
Friends Recount Tragedies Richard Otieno Endured Before His Brutal Murder Near Elburgon Police Station
