Irate residents of Kanjuri village in Mathira, Nyeri County on Thursday evening set ablaze a homestead after a shylock demolished a widower's house.
Trouble started when a shylock accompanied by police officers from Karatina police station arrived at the home of Leah Nyambura and demolished her house claiming that her brother-in-law had failed to pay a loan of Ksh200,000 which had accumulated up to Ksh 600,000.
The officers informed the family that the shylock had obtained an order from a local court to evict Wanjiru since her parcel of land had been used to secure a loan, it had entered the judgement.
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However, when news of Wanjiru was received by villagers who regrouped and invaded the home of Nyambura brother-in-law who fled and set it on fire saying that his parcel should have been taken by the shylock as he is the one who benefitted from the alleged scheme.
Nyambura elder brother-in-law Moses Gichuki said that his younger sister had embittered their late father and obtained the mutation number of his late brother parcel which he used to borrow from the said shylock.
"My brother had cheated our father and had obtained mutation numbers, he picked Nyambura late husband one which he borrowed 200,000 with hence the problem," Gichuki said,
A ‘nyumba kumi’ representative Karigu Mwangi said that they had resolved the issue by determining that Nyambura’s parcel should remain and whoever took the loan should follow the court’s order that the court had ruled otherwise.
A church elder, Beatrice Muthomi said that the community is bitter due to the fact that they had built the house for the widower due to her poor state, yet her gifts had been violated.
“We as a community feel that the shy lock had used underhand dealings to steal the woman land yet the person who stole is Scott free and enjoying his land rights,” Muthoni said. While the shy lock was contacted, she refused to speak on camera, saying she followed the due process of the court to acquire the land after being granted the original owner with default.
