New details have emerged on the shooting incident involving a Kitale businessman and a lady identified as Phanice Chemutai who was shot after being allegedly mistaken for the fugitive Caroline Kangogo who is wanted for killing two men.
Speaking to journalists from her bed at Kitale Referral Hospital on Saturday, Chemutai disclosed that she had never met the businessman Ken Muyundo, a proprietor of several hotels within Kitale township.
“I arrived at Kiminini market from my Kaptama home to help my sister get a birth certificate. I also wanted to look for a college I could join because I am a Form Four leaver. On reaching Kiminini town, I was caught up by curfew time forcing me to get a place to sleep,” Chemutai narrated.
Chemutai said she rented a room for Ksh300 intending to spend the night there with her sister and on clearing the payment she saw Muyundo’s car.
“It was a black car packed in the corridor and the occupant a man in his early 50s called me but I hesitated. He called me for the second time and the third time he shouted at me saying ‘you girl, I’m calling you,'” she said.
She obliged and went to the car where the assailant asked for her cell number which he saved and let her go to her room.
“After getting my number, he started pestering me with phone calls that I join him but I declined as we were two. He kept on calling me despite me telling him I was new in Kiminini town,” she stated.
The phone calls persisted forcing Chemutai to report Muyundo to a caretaker of the house she had rented with her sister.
“He called me at 8:43pm while I was preparing to take my packed food and kept on calling until 8:48pm. So I asked the caretaker to accompany me to see what he wanted because he was still in his car parked in the corridor,” she added.
On reaching Muyundo’s car, he asked the victim if she was Chemutai which she told him she was.
“He asked me to join him in the car because he wanted to have a brief talk with me. He then gave the caretaker a one thousand shillings note saying it was airtime and asked him to excuse us a bit,” Chemutai said.
After the caretaker left, Muyundo is said to have told her that he was longing to see her for a long time.
“I was puzzled after he said he had longed for me as we had just met a few minutes ago,” she narrated.
It is here that Muyundo struck a conversation with Chemutai before he moved from the driver’s seat to the passenger side.
“After leaning on the passenger side I heard a gunshot sound. Muyundo then started fuming and shouting that it is you Chemutai. I have been searching for you for a long time and I want to kill you,” Chemutai told journalists.
Her plea that she was not the police officer who was being sought fell on deaf ears as Muyundo drugged her from the car and ordered her to lie down.
“He forced me to the ground and cocked his gun prompting me to scream which attracted officers who were on patrol,” she said.
The officers asked what was going on and Muyundo said she was Caroline Chemutai Kangogo.
“Muyundo showed the officers the pictures of Kangogo that he had. I told him that I was not the one and that we had just met and wondered why he was mistaking me with the rogue police officer on the run,” she said.
It is here that the police took her to Kiminini police station where they administered first aid on her and also recovered a used cartridge lodged in her pants.
Unverified information revealed that the two were earlier that day seen drinking at a club in Grassland area in the outskirts of Kitale town before proceeding to Kiminini.
“They were drunk before proceeding to Kiminini,” said an eye witness who sought anonymity.
The lady is still recuperating at the Kitale Referral Hospital while Muyundo is expected to appear in court on Monday July 12.
