Suspected intruder dies after setting house on fire in Kiambu
FILE IMAGE OF A POLICE LINE
Police in Kiambu County are investigating an arson incident in which a suspected intruder died after setting a house on fire in Gakoe Village.
Police said the incident occurred on March 12 at about 10:00 p.m.
The complainant told police that she was at her semi-permanent timber house when she discovered that one of the bedroom walls had been broken into earlier by an unknown person.
She immediately called a neighbour who helped her repair the damaged timber wall. After preparing supper, she decided to take her 6-kilogram gas cylinder into the bedroom for safe keeping.
It was at that moment that she noticed a man hiding under her bed.
The elderly woman ran outside and raised an alarm, prompting neighbours to rush to the scene and surround the house.
Police said the suspect, realizing he could not escape, intentionally released gas from the cylinder and struck a match while inside the bedroom, igniting a fire.
The man sustained severe burns to his face, hands and upper abdomen and died at the scene. Part of the house and several household items were also destroyed in the fire.
The body of the unknown middle-aged man was moved to General Kago Mortuary for preservation pending identification and a postmortem examination.
Elsewhere, police in Murang’a County are investigating the death of a 47-year-old man who fell from a railway bridge in the Wathiani area on Thursday night.
The incident occurred on March 12, 2026 at around 10:00 p.m. at a railway bridge in Wathiani and the deceased was identified as Patrick Karuri Ng’ang’a. He was heading home when the accident happened.
Preliminary investigations indicate that Ng’ang’a was attempting to cross from one side of the valley to the other using a railway bridge built across the valley.
Due to darkness, he reportedly misjudged the distance between the railway sleepers, lost his balance and fell between the rails into the valley below.
He landed on the hard surface and died instantly.
The body was later moved to Murang’a Level 5 Hospital Mortuary where it is being preserved pending a postmortem examination.