By Antynet Ford
Police have joined manhunt for the murder suspect who has been missing at Manyani Maximum prison in Taita Taveta since the beginning of the week.
The 28-year-old convict Samuel Njule Maghanga, had been convicted for murder and was serving 30 years jail term.
Officials of the prison found him missing during a headcount operation at about 7 am.
It is not clear at what stage he escaped and how and an alarm was raised followed by a search in vain.
A team was sent to his village in the area as part of efforts to trace and re-arrest him.
Police said they are talking to the prison wardens who were on duty during the escape as part of the probe into the incident.
Manyani is touted as one of the most secure institutions in the country.
In a separate incident, two robbery with violence suspects were lynched separately in the city.
In the first incident which happened in the Kiamaiko area, a man who tried to snatch a mobile phone from a pedestrian was stoned to death.
The victim raised an alarm alerting a mob who chased and cornered the suspect stoning him to death.
In the second incident, a suspect who tried to snatch a mobile phone from a pedestrian along Rhapta Road in Westlands, Nairobi was stoned to death.
The suspect was riding on a motorcycle with a rider and had stopped along the road and tried to snatch the gadget when an alarm was raised.
This attracted the attention of other pedestrians and bodaboda riders on the road who joined the chase as he tried to escape the scene.
Police said he was chased and cornered a few meters away. He was stoned to death.
The officers said they arrived at the scene minutes later and found the lifeless body of the man lying there.
Police discourage mob lynching and term it criminal and have been advising suspects caught to be surrendered to authorities for processing.
Recently, there has been a rise in cases where thugs on motorcycles attack and rob pedestrians of motorists.
This has prompted an operation targeting the group, which saw several suspects nabbed.