Man kills and buries 81-year-old father in shallow grave
By Mwangi NdiranguA man in Laikipia County has confessed to killing his 81-year-old father.
The suspect, Anthony Gitonga, later led detectives to a shallow grave in the same compound where he claimed to have buried his father.
The homestead of the late Joseph Ndegwa in Njoguini village has now been declared a crime scene following his mysterious disappearance late last month.
Following the confession, Ndegwa’s 54-year-old son is now being treated as the prime suspect, with homicide detectives taking over the case to investigate a possible murder.
When the Nation.Africa team visited the house on Thursday July 11, family members and neighbours who had been keeping a low profile pointed the media to the “grave”, which had been covered with dry acacia branches and marked “crime scene”, making it inaccessible to the public.
Living extravagantly
Villagers described the suspect in the yet-to-be-determined murder as a loner who had never had a family.
It is not yet clear why the son would turn against his elderly father, with whom he had lived before the disappearance. But according to family members, Mr Gitonga had complained about his father’s extravagance.
“The last time we spoke to my brother, he complained that our father was living extravagantly after selling some of the family cattle. He protested that our ageing father was spending a lot of money and time at a local bar buying beers for friends and acquaintances,” said Ms Jennifer Wanjiru, the last born daughter who lives with her family in Nairobi.
The missing octogenarian had moved to the homestead five months ago from Kigwandi village in Nyeri County where his second wife, Ms Esther Wanja, lives with their children. His first wife, a mother of four, died 14 years ago.
Reported missing
“My husband moved here in February this year and told me he was coming to sell some of his sheep and goats. I spoke to him two weeks ago when I asked him to come home and meet our daughter who is in Form One during the recent half term break but he did not come as promised,” said Ms Wanja.
According to Mr Ndegwa’s granddaughter, Ms Eunice Muhindi, who lives in a neighbouring village, his grandfather had sold a cow for Sh41,000 a few days before he was reported missing.
“He sold the cow and had become a spendthrift, sometimes not returning home after a night of drinking and staying in rented rooms at Chuma Shopping Centre. This kind of lifestyle could have caused bad blood with his son as he had also threatened to sell some of the family land,” said Ms Muhindi, a Community Health Promoter in Tigithi Ward.
A member of the local Nyumba Kumi Initiative, Mr Jackson Muriithi, said he heard about the old man last Sunday, July 7.