Moses Mwathi
13 September 2008
Nairobi — More than 10 heavily armed raided the palatial home of Olympic marathon champion Samuel Kamau Wanjiru at Muthaiga Estate in Nyahururu Town and terrorised his family for close to thirty minutes on Friday night.
The gold medalist was not at home during the 11 am attack. He had earlier left for Nairobi to grace the Ndakaini marathon, which was held on Friday.
The robbers armed with AK 47 rifles scaled a perimeter fence and then cut an an electric fence surrounding the bungalow. They also dismantled flood lights and used their powerful torches to gain access into the main apartment.
At the main door, they used gun fire to break padlocks accessed the living room, where they guzzled energy drinks before harassing more than six occupants.
They ordered them including the champion's wife Triza Kamau to lie prostrate on the floor, as they intently looked for valuables and cash.
The wife tactfully managed to switch on the alarm, as the robbers ransacked the well-furnished living room and bedrooms.
They stared at sparkling medals and trophies hanged on the wall. "They appeared to admire the medals as they demanded money from us. But, they did not touch them. They were desperate to get money,"Mrs Kamau told the Nation on Friday.
The deafening sound of the alarm prompted the robbers to take a retreat and hid in the compound for ten minutes. It took police 40 minutes to respond to the distress call. The police arrived as the thugs were still in the compound unnoticed.
As they patrolled in the house, the robbers fired several shots in the air. "When they fired police were quite baffled since they thought the thugs had vanished.
They exchanged fire in the darkness for few minutes," added, the terrified mother of one daughter.
They later learn t that the robbers had left using a four wheel vehicle towards central business district. Nothing was stolen.
Nyandarua police chief Charles Wasike said nobody has been arrested in connection with the raid. He said crime busters were piecing leads that could leads to arrests.
Mr Kamau returned two days ago from Japan where he had gone to express his wish to quit his club.
The raid threw the plush estate into panic as residents decried rising insecurity in the town in the past one month.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Is there any connection between your comment and the story you are commenting on
Time to move to the safe white surburbs
Too much greed and desire to exclude all others, this is the cause of the tribal clashes, the way mr. mathaura is going is exactly the same direction. Fairness and justice is the basis for peace. Almighty will call each one to answer, then all money one stole, all peoples property one took for himself personally will not be defense for anyone infront of the God who will be judging you. Ten years pass quickly, then comes regret for the evils one did when in position of power. Why not look at the past, even the great jomo kinyata could… [Read Full Text]