Chilling tale of five-year-old girl who survived bandits attack that wiped her family
On Tuesday morning, Victor Yego, 30, his wife Valentine Yego, 28, and their two children aged five and two years old woke up in high spirits as they prepared themselves to join their family members for the graduation ceremony of initiates in their rural home in the border Chemoe village in Baringo North, more than 53 kilometers away from Marigat town where they operated a business.
Owing to the perennial insecurity menace in the troubled area, there is no public vehicle plying the route, with the only means of transport being security vehicles and motorcycles.
The family of four and one of their relatives, a secondary school student, sought two motorcycles that were convenient to ferry them and their luggage to the far-flung village.
Victor and the 17-year-old student boarded one motorcycle while his wife and their two children boarded the other.
They left Marigat at around 7 am and set out for the long journey, traversing the insecurity-prone villages, with a determination to celebrate the passing out of the four initiates who were their close relatives.
Their journey was good and they didn’t encounter any challenges on the way but on reaching the deserted Sangorok area along the Yatya- Chemoe road at 11am, just some three kilometers to their destination, they were ambushed by an unknown number of gun-wielding criminals suspected to be from the neighbouring community who shot at them indiscriminately.
What was supposed to be merry-making and a family reunion turned tragic as gunshots rendered the air from all directions in the desolate bushy area.
By the time the guns went silent, three family members were dead…. father, mother and their two-year-old son…. with their bodies riddled with bullets.
According to Nelson Kemei, a motorcyclist, the shootout lasted for approximately 10 minutes before the attackers fled into the bushes without stealing anything.
Yego, deceased, was shot severally in the chest and died on the spot, his wife succumbed to a gunshot injury on her neck while their two-year-old boy was shot in the mouth.
According to the motorcyclists, the bandits shot at them while in motion and despite surviving the incident, the duo sustained serious gunshot injuries on their legs, including the secondary school student who was among the four pillion passengers.
However, when the shootout took place, there was a lucky escape for a five-year-old girl, a firstborn daughter to the deceased parents who followed the motorcyclists as they fled towards the bushes for their safety.
In the event, the minor fell into a thicket and fainted owing to the shock of the dozens of gunshots that rented the air.
Locals who heard the gunshots headed towards the scene two hours after the incident and they found the girl crying and beckoning her mother, who died hours before, to wake up.
“The scene was horrid. All three family members, their bodies riddled with bullets, were lying in a pool of blood. The young girl, who was still in shock, ran on to see us heading where she was. We had to run after her and take her to safety. Though the minor survived the attack unscathed, she is still in shock having witnessed what transpired,” said a police reservist (NPR) on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization.
“Personal belongings of the deceased persons were also strewn at the scene, including soda bottles and crates which I suspect were being ferried to the ceremony. The attackers shot at them before fleeing without taking anything,” said the NPR.
The two motorcyclists are recuperating at the Baringo County Hospital in Kabarnet and the bodies of the three family members were also moved to the facility’s morgue.
The pillion passenger who survived the attack was referred from the county’s referral hospital to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret for specialized treatment.
When the Nation toured the home of the slain family in banditry-prone Chemoe village on Wednesday, there was a somber mood with elders, who were yet to come to terms to what happened seated at a grass-thatched shade conversing in low tones.
Women were also seated at a distance with their children as they waited for a decision from the elders on burial arrangements for the slain trio.
Among the children who were seated was the five-year-old girl who survived the attack that saw all her family members wiped out in the attack.
Still traumatized from the killings, the minor gulped some sips of tea as she stared at us as if lost in thought, as two elderly women kept checking on her wellbeing.
The four initiates who were graduating on the fateful day were standing at a mud-walled hut some few meters from the gathering of the family members and neighbours … .what was supposed to be a merry making ceremony had virtually turned into mourning.
Joseph Rerimoi, an uncle to the deceased man, is still in shock following the killing of their firstborn son who was also a breadwinner in the family.
“Our son, his expectant wife and their two-year-old son were all shot dead by armed attackers. In 10 minutes, we just lost a family just like that. We are so pained that they just died three kilometers from home, amid an ongoing security operation going on in the name of flushing out the bandits,” said the distraught uncle.
“We are even short of words because a tragedy struck us when we were in a celebratory mood enjoying the passing out of our sons. The slain family that was living in Marigat where they were doing some business has been survived by a five-year-old girl who escaped death by whisker, though she is still very traumatized,” he added.
The relative said the affected family relocated to the area some years ago after fleeing the insecurity-prone Sangorok, where the attack happened, which also saw all their livestock stolen at the time by bandits.
According to the relative, on the same day, a separate incident happened at Yatya village, approximately eight kilometers away, some hours after the killings that also saw two people killed. Coincidentally, one of them was their relative.
“You can imagine a scenario of a family losing four people in a single day, not to sickness or a natural calamity, but to a bandit attack. Where is the government when we are being killed and turned paupers by gun-toting criminals? Are we any lesser Kenyans that we have just been left to the mercy of the attackers? Posed Mr Rerimoi.
Sarah Kaptum, another relative also blamed the state for doing little to tame the perennial attacks, a move she said has led to thousands of people in the locality displaced from their homes.
“Most people have fled this area over the years due to insecurity, as we speak, less than 10 families are living here because they have nowhere to run to. We just resorted to moving from our farms and just erecting houses close to the shopping centre for security reasons, so that we will be near to the Anti-Stock-Theft Unit (ASTU) camp the same meters away just in case the attackers strike,” said Ms Kaptum.
“We voted in President William Ruto with the hope that he would restore order in this region. It is sad that one year later, we are still losing people to banditry. The government has virtually left us on our own. Four of our family members are dead, all killed in a single day. What will the state tell us this time? Posed the distraught relative as she wiped her tears.
According to the locals, all the roads leading to the volatile villages are impassable and have been taken over by the criminals who just kill anyone on sight.
Richard Chepchomei, a local from the area told the Nation that illegal herders have invaded the border villages in Baringo North and Baringo South with their livestock in the guise of looking for water and pasture, occupying Barsuswo, Koloswo, Kapturo, Kagir, Yatya, Chemoe, Kaborion and Chepkesin villages.
“Bandits are roaming the villages freely and we no longer go on with our daily activities freely. Learners, especially those living in the neighbouring villages also fear traversing the bushes harbouring criminals on their way to school for fear of being attacked. The government should intensify security patrols in the area and beef up security if learning in these areas is anything to go by,” said Mr Chepchomei.
The attacks are happening despite a security operation mounted by the government 11 months ago in Baringo, Turkana, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu and Laikipia counties aimed at flushing out bandits, seizure of illegal guns and recovery of stolen livestock.
According to the county police commander Julius Kiragu, it is suspected that the attack on the motorists was a revenge attack following the killing of a herder from the Pokot community in the locality on Sunday.
“We are yet to know the motive of the killings but we suspect that it was a retaliatory attack following the killing of a herder from the Pokot community in the locality on Sunday. We have however deployed security officers to hunt the criminals whom we are told fled after the incident,” said Mr Kiragu.
The military-backed security operation was rolled out by the state in February last year to seize illegal guns, arrest criminals and recover stolen livestock.
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