Teenager 'beaten to death over chicken' in Kandara

A newly circumcised teenager died in Kandara, Murang’a County after he was allegedly beaten to death by men, who were initiating him to manhood, over chicken. 

Juliano Kanyonyo, 15, was found dead on Monday morning in his bed.

A post-mortem report showed that the teen, who recently did his final primary school exams, had a clot in his brain.

His family members said the men who visited the teen to counsel him and welcome him into manhood beat him because he gave them a chicken which was not ‘mature’.

According to Kikuyu traditions, when a man undergoes an initiation rite, he must produce chickens to men who are much older than them and cigarettes for him to be welcomed into manhood.

One also is roughed up in his house by his “counsellors” and is not supposed to share his predicaments with his parents since “he is being trained to be man enough to survive in difficult conditions”.

Beth Nyambura, the teen’s mother, said she saw four men enter her son’s house before she went to bed on Sunday night.

She said she had received complaints that the chicken, which her son had bought from the proceeds of casual labour, was not mature and she had planned to get a more another one the following day.

“When I returned home at about 8am I noticed that my son had not woken up and I decided to go to his house,  which is against the norms and tradition, to check what was up.

Kandara police boss Wilson Kosgey said police are pursuing four suspects who visited the teenager.

The police boss decried the rising cases of bullying among newly circumcised boys in Kandara saying that another teen was recuperating in hospital after his ‘counsellors’ poisoned him.