A 73-year-old woman from Bosiango village in Nyamira North has gone missing after locals threatened to lynch her over suspicion of being a witch.
Family members say they have not been able to reach their grandmother since Monday evening.
Her grandson Geoffrey Ontiri who has been staying with her says the woman left home on Monday morning for the market but could not return forcing them to report the matter to the area Chief.
“Five men came home on Sunday evening and threatened to kill her accusing her of practising black magic. She was shaken and couldn’t sleep the whole night,” he added.
Ontiri says one of his uncles has been planning to sell a piece of the family land suspecting that he could be behind the woman’s disappearance.
“My uncle has in the past fought my grandmother because she refused to release the title deed to enable him to sell the said piece of land.”
Area Chief Moriasi Arisi confirmed that he has in the past tried in vain to unite the family and have the matter solved.
“In our last meeting in September, we agreed that the grandmother files a succession case in court since she had lost her husband. This is not the first time she has gone missing. The other time we rescued her after some suspects kidnapped her,” said Arisi.
The said suspects wanted to force her into signing some documents to have the land sold.
Several cases of old people being killed have been on the increase in Kisii and Nyamira Counties in the last few years.
Families of victims say their parents are killed because of land disputes and other family conflicts. They blame the practice of witchcraft to eliminate family members who are against plans to sale family land.
Last month ago a 64-year-old woman was killed in Marani Kitutu Chache. Her body was later set ablaze together with her property. Nobody has been arrested over the incident
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