Residents of Kelunet village in Bureti constituency, Kericho County, are reeling from shock after a body suspected to be of youth was discovered in a shallow grave.
The decomposed body was dug up by dogs, which feasted on parts of the upper torso before curious locals discovered it.
It was buried in a eucalyptus plantation at leading multinational company Sotik Highlands Tea.
Maturity trees in the plantation are harvested and used as firewood to power boilers at the company’s factory.
On Wednesday afternoon, dogs led villagers to the plantation, where the partly dug-up grave was discovered with the body fully clothed.
It was not clear when the body was dumped at the site, with residents saying there was no report of a missing person in the area. They suspected the person was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the plantation.
“Residents were attracted to the scene by dogs that had been emerging from the plantation with meat, only to discover it was from a decomposed body buried in a shallow grave,” said Mr Thomas Kirui, the acting chief of Kibugat location.
He said officers from the Roret Police Station secured the crime scene to keep away the public.
Earlier attempts by Sotik Highlands Tea security guards to keep locals away from the scene were fruitless.
Dogs had been feasting on the body for almost a week but passersby did not pay much attention to what they were feeding on until yesterday, said resident Cosmas Kiprono Ngetich.
Mr Cosmas Kipngetich (left) and Isaac Kipruto (centre) who were the first to discover the decomposing body buried in a shallow grave at a eucalyptus plantation owned by Sotik Highlands tea company, after dogs partly dug it up on November 16, 2022
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation Media Group
He and fellow villager Isaac Kipruto became curious and followed the canines to the scene.
“We discovered that there were torn clothes around the area and upon further investigations, we found that a body was lying in a shallow grave,” Mr Kipruto told journalists at the scene.
The Nation went to the scene and observed that the legs were covered in stockings. Villagers said the body also had a bra, suggesting that it was of a female. The size of the body also suggested it was of a young person.
But police could not exhume the body as they had to wait until today to secure court orders for such an operation.
Residents and the police braved a heavy downpour on Wednesday evening at the scene of the crime, with curious onlookers only leaving at nightfall.
“We have had three bodies dumped at the plantation in the last three years and calls to Sotik Highlands Tea that the trees be cleared to curb insecurity have fallen on deaf ears,” said resident Isaac Koech.
Mr Koech claimed that stolen livestock were been found hidden in the tree plantation a year ago, suggesting it was a hideout for criminals operating on the border of Kericho and Nyamira counties.
The plantation is located on a key route children use to and from two schools in the village, said local woman leader Nancy Marisin.
“We have asked around and there is no report of a missing person within our area. We suspect the body was brought in from another area by whoever committed the murder and hurriedly buried in the shallow grave,” Ms Marisin said.
The road also links Sotik Highlands Tea, local villages and the main Chebilat-Ikonge highway running through Kericho and Nyamira.
The body is expected to be exhumed sometime today after police get a court’s permission to do so.
