Collins Sambaya, a 19-year old boy from Chemasiri in Vihiga, who made headlines for being nailed to a tree has spoken up for the first time since the incident.
Sambaya was nailed on the tree by people known to him over claims that he had stolen a radio and a memory card on Friday last week.
In an interview with PAG Radio Kenya, he narrated the events of the day and how he ended up being ‘crucified’.
On the fateful Sambaya, who stays with his grandparents and his 3 siblings, woke up to his daily routine not knowing what was awaiting him.
His grandfather left for a funeral, while the grandmother went for a church service, as he stayed behind to handle the chores.
When his grandma returned home, she asked him to peg the cattle to graze and that’s when he met his neighbor Elvis Irime, who led him to the ‘cross’.
“He told me to accompany him to their place so that I could pick the radio receipt and give it to my grandfather. On reaching there, we found his brother with a panga and his wife was also there. Elvis told him to give him the panga which used to cut a rope that had been used to restrain a cow,” Sambaya recounted.
The 19-year old said that the brothers used the rope to tie him and asked the wife to bring two capped nails and a 6-inch one.
The suspects then carried him to the tree where they drove the capped nails on his hands, and the 6-inch was meant to go into his head.
Not only did they nail him, but they went ahead to cut one of his fingers prompting him to wail loudly and that attracted a woman who rushed to his rescue. Elvis was in charge of hammering the nails.
The suspects ran away before they completed mission leaving behind the hammer.
“I tried to struggle with them, but they were too powerful for me. They drove the nails on me and when they cut my finger, I screamed, a woman called Florence came to help. He wanted to drive a 6-inch nail in my head,” Sambaya narrated.
All that time they did not tell him what he had done to deserve the kind of treatment they were subjecting him to.
“I was in pain, with no energy but my grandfather came and told me to be strong and hold on,” he said
Sambaya said that the presence of his family gave him energy to hold on and without them, he would not have made it. According to his grandfather, Sambaya was ‘crucified’ at around 2pm.
Since it was a police case, Sambaya was only removed from the tree after the police came and collected their evidence. That was done by the help of a power saw and a hammer.
The 19-year old completed his class in 2021 but has not been able to join form one because of some challenges. He is calling upon well wishers to help him to go to school and study to achieve his dream of becoming a journalist.
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