'I Watched My Dad Get Stoned And Burned To Death' Woman Emotionally Narrates Horrifying Experience

Piece by: Queen Serem
Entertainment

Tears roll down the cheeks of 25-year-old Irene Jeruto from Tenges, Baringo county, while she recalls how her late beloved father was stoned and burned to death during the 2008 post-election violence.

She was barely 16 years when she accompanied her late father Charles Keitany to Mary Mount Secondary School in Nakuru on January 21, 2008.

In a statement written by Jeruto and seen by the Star in their home in Tenges, Baringo Central subcounty, on Saturday, schools opened on January 14, 2008, and the girl student was already a week late.

"On January 21, 2008, while at home, my father received a phone call from one Mr Richard, my class teacher, asking of my whereabouts.

"He then informed my dad that I was late for school as I was the only student who had not reported," read part of her statement.

Amid the conversation, she said the teacher assured her father that everything had settled after the election violence, and that the road looked calm and normal. Her father accepted and promised him (teacher) that he could accompany me to school the following day.

"On January 22, 2008, I left for school with my father after breakfast and a family prayer at 8am, and then we drove in my father's pickup KZT833 Chevrolet."

She said they made a stopover in Eldama-Ravine so her father, who was then working with the Water ministry, could seek a day-off to accompany her to school. "I also did my shopping, enough for the entire first term, as I was headed to join form two," Jeruto said.

She said her class teacher kept calling her father to inquire where they had reached, adding that the traffic on the road was low. They encountered only about three vehicles from Mukutano junction on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway heading to Molo.

DEATH IN MOLO TOWN

The town seemed deserted and quiet. There was minimal activity, with few shops operational. Then we entered one petrol station to fuel our vehicle.

She said while they were at the filling station, some people came to inspect the vehicle and left talking in low tones.

Immediately afterwards, another group appeared with similar moves before we noticed road blocks of heavy stones in front and behind us.

That her father attempted to drive away but he couldn't make it past the swelling crowd that had already surrounded them (both men and women).

In the process, she said one youth snatched the keys out of their vehicle while her father pleaded to the young man to surrender back the keys.

Instead, the boy threw the keys on the ground and ordered my father to collect them on his own.

Upon sensing danger, she said her father called her class teacher Mr Kariuki to inform him that they were already in Molo town and the road had been blocked, asking him to come and pick them.

But then on his reply, the teacher told him to wait for 10 minutes. "Meanwhile, the group had regrouped into small gatherings and seemed to engage themselves in serious talks," Jeruto said.

She said within a few minutes, the group surrounded their vehicle, then one of them ordered her father to lower the windscreen from his side before slapping him hard.

"I was seated at the rear seat of the vehicle, so I could see everything done to my father," she said.

The girl further narrates that her father tried to speed off but the crowd rained stones, breaking all the windows.

"Then my father got out of the vehicle, trying to plead with them but was not listened to... I also chipped in to plead with them not to hurt my father, but they shouted me down by asking me whether it was my father or myself who voted. It is then that they started beating and throwing stones at him, blood oozing from all over his body as I watched helplessly," she said.

She said while she was inside the vehicle, a certain woman from the crowd snatched the phone from her while she was trying to reach for anyone she could get online to come and rescue her father.

"It is then that two men entered the vehicle and pushed me to the centre. They struggled to tear my clothes, which I resisted so hard.

"Some women screamed and pleaded with them to let me go," she said, pausing to wipe tears.

She said the rowdy youth rushed in with a four litre jerrican full of petrol and poured it on the bonnet of the vehicle, while others were busy disconnecting things from the front, before setting it ablaze.

"Police arrived, I don't know from where, and they pulled me out of the vehicle and drew me inside their land rover, while our vehicle was already raging with fire," she said.

Jeruto said the police made a stopover where her father was lying. "I jumped to lean on him, touching him and crying for help as blood oozed profusely from his head. He was still conscious but not talking anymore. I screamed," she said.

She said a Red Cross vehicle stopped a few metres from where they were and she pleaded with them to help, but was shocked when one of the officials retorted, "What did you come to do here?"

"Before we left, I saw some people pour petrol on my father, then I pleaded with the police to stop them but nothing was done to help my father," she said.

She said she found herself in Mau Summit police station, where she was helped into a room by a police officer who gave her a basin and bath water. She also changed into another pair of school uniform.

She said the same officer gave her a ride in his private vehicle to Nakuru town, where she boarded a matatu back home, though she later learned that her loving father had succumbed to extreme burn injuries.

She said she later transferred from the school and joined Sacho High School, where she completed her learning while still traumatised by what happened to her father.

JOSEPH KANGOGO/The Star