Angry residents demolished houses belonging to a suspected criminal and managed to recover stolen property worth thousands of shillings at Shinyalu village in Lumakanda location in Lugari Sub County.
Speaking to West Media, residents said the suspect identified as Stephen Barasa alias Barus is a hardcore criminal that has been terrorizing and causing them sleepless nights.
They said the suspect has been stealing any valuables ranging from livestock, household property among other items.
Tired of his behavior, neighbors laid a trap after spotting him enter his house with chicken on Wednesday morning.
They traced and managed to locate the owner of the chicken and asked him to join them in a raid to the suspect’s house at night.
With help of a group of youths from the village, they stormed the suspect’s house at 9pm who open the door and welcomed them.
However on sensing danger after being asked about the chickens, he fooled them to follow him to the next room where he pretended to have kept them before he escaped through the window and disappeared into the dark.
On searching the house they found an assortment of stolen property including dozens of chicken, televisions, mobile phones, motor vehicle batteries, a generator, CCTV cameras, mattresses, house household utensils among others valuables.
Some of the residents present who managed to identify their lost items and had not report to police decided to take them.
Later police officers from Lumakanda station were called and collected the remaining items and took them to the station as they launched investigation into the incident.
However information about the incident spread to the neighbouring villages where hundreds of residents thronged the suspect’s compound on Thursday and pulled down his houses vowing never to allow him back in the village.
“Let him step here again, we will deal with him mercilessly,” they dared.
Speaking to West media separately the suspect’s wife Alice Awour defended her husband saying he was not a thief arguing that he bought the items from different people.
