A drinking spree in Makongeni estate in Thika town turned tragic after a reveler was beaten to death by a nightclub watchman after a quarrel on Sunday evening.
According to eyewitnesses, the middle-aged man had an altercation with a watchman as he was leaving Club Black D nightclub at about 7.30 pm.
As they argued, eyewitnesses said, the watchman beat up the reveler with a hockey stick, killing him on the spot.
The watchman also descended on his victim’s friend, inflicting serious injuries on him.
After the killing, friends of the deceased traced the watchman early on Monday, September 28, where they descended on him with blows and kicks, leaving him for dead.
The watchman later died at the Thika Level Five Hospital.
It took the intervention of the police to quell the rowdy youth who raided the bar and stole liquor as well vandalized a nearby club which the watchman also guarded. The youths broke window panes and stole more alcoholic beverages.
Shocked residents decried the many cases of violence in the area, attributing the vice to cropping up of alcohol selling joints in the estate.
“Bars have never closed in this estate despite the government’s ban. Rather than the youth engaging in productive ventures, they have sunk deep into alcohol. Again, cases of violence in this estate are very high. We need to have enhanced security. If that was the case, both deaths would have been avoided,” said Cecilia Mumbi, a local resident said.
Thika West Sub County Police Commander Beatrice Kiraguri said investigations into both incidents are ongoing and warned that anyone who will be found culpable will be dealt with.
She called on residents to observe restraint, when dealing with suspects, by handing them over to the police, saying mob justice cost the watchman his life.
