Two Ugandan barmaids who allegedly colluded with thieves to kill boda boda operators escaped lynching by a mob in Webuye town on Tuesday.
Boda boda operators threatened to lynch the women who worked at New Star pub, whom they accused of helping thieves kill riders and steal their motorcycles.
Barmaid Florence Kajuba, 24, who denied the claims, explained that she had spent time with a customer she did not know was a suspected thief.
Kajuba recounted how she had been on a drinking spree with the customer who asked her to accompany him to Bungoma town’s Vodka Martini club on Monday night and she said they disagreed after she refused to accompany him to the resting room he had booked as she was too drunk and it was late.
Kajuba said she left the man at about 4am in the morning and took a boda boda back to Webuye town and along the way she was approached by people on two boda bodas who asked for the customer.
“I told them I didn’t know where he had gone but they immediately rained blows on me accusing me of being with a motorcycle thief,” she said.
She said she told them that all she knew about him was that he frequented the bar, but that they did not listen and accompanied her to Webuye.
Kabuja said they went to her work place and attacked her and a friend but that police intervened.
Twenty two Ugandan women working as barmaids in Webuye town condemned the incident and asked police to arrest and prosecute the culprits.
They denied the claim that some of them collaborate with thieves. The allegations came amid more cases of attacks on boda boda operators in the area.
Bungoma East DCIO Paul Mumo said police have launched investigations into the incident.
He cautioned boda boda operators against mob justice saying participants caught will be arrested and prosecuted.