KISUMU, Kenya, Feb 16 – Police in Kisumu East Subcounty have arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 40-year-old man following a dispute allegedly over phone ownership in the Kibos area.
According to police, the incident was reported at Migosi Police Station at about 5:30pm.
“The report was made by Michael Okoth, a resident of Kibos, who informed officers that members of the public had alerted him to a fight between two men outside his business premises along the Kibos–Chiga Road. One of the individuals had been seriously injured,” the police report stated.
Police officers from Migosi Police Station, accompanied by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Kisumu East Subcounty and led by the Officer Commanding Station (OCS), responded to the scene approximately four kilometres east of the station.
Preliminary investigations established that the deceased and the suspect had earlier engaged in a disagreement at a local drinking joint.
The dispute, believed to have stemmed from ownership of a mobile phone, escalated from the bar to the roadside along Kibos–Chiga Road.
Police said that during the confrontation, the suspect allegedly armed himself with a kitchen knife, chased the deceased and stabbed him in the upper left side of the chest.
The victim collapsed and began bleeding profusely.
Members of the public attempted to attack the suspect in an apparent act of mob justice, but police officers intervened and rescued him from the scene before re-arresting him.
The injured victim was rushed to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The suspected murder weapon was reportedly taken by members of the public during the melee. Police are following up to recover it as part of ongoing investigations.
Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) officers processed and documented the scene before the body was transferred to the hospital’s mortuary for preservation and postmortem examination.
The suspect is currently being held at Migosi Police Station pending further investigations.
The case has been forwarded to DCI Kisumu East for further handling.
Police have urged members of the public to resolve disputes amicably and avoid taking the law into their own hands.
