11/07/2025
The body of Chief Luka wa Kahangara after suspected Mau Mau raided his home and almost wiped out his entire family and animals in Lari on March 26, 1953. Even his vehicles were not spared.
Luka's p***s was chopped off and placed in his mouth before his head was crashed on a stone.
Rachel, one of Luka's wives said she had a premonition that something bad was about to happen. That night before the attack, the entire homestead went to bed earlier than usual without understanding the reason why.
Then at 8.00 pm her daughter who was deep asleep started mumbling some words. "Ngai humbahumbira riua riri ritige kunjina" ("God shield me from the sun for its heat is more than I can stand").
"It was like a dream to me, my daughter mumbling until I had to wake up and calm her to sleep."
Three hours late at around 11.00 p.m. the fighters raided Luka's compound pouring paraffin and petrol on the dry grass, thatched roofs, cow sheds, stores and heaps of firewood.
Thirty minutes later they took positions on the doors of the huts and ordered everyone out. Luka was dragged out half naked and placed under arrest.
Luka's wives, some children and a few servants were then marched to Luka's thingira. Four of his wives were ordered to stand around him as the torture began.
One of Luka's wife narrated:
"They pinned him to the ground, removed the cotton cloth round his waist and some others came with pangas, stretch his legs apart and in slow motions start cutting his private parts amidst groaning and wailing... then placed the organ in his mouth.
"Yet another one came forward, dipped his sword into his eye sockets and slowly gouged his eye out then moved away to give room to another to do the same with the other eye."
Muthoni, Luka's sixth wife, also narrated:
"When I could not stand it and I moved forward to hold the man who gouged my husband's eye and now was about to cut his throat, the fighters turned on me, held me fast to the ground, placed my hand on a stone and cut it... Whack! Whack!, and you can see it.
"The fighters then moved on and cut his head slowly without any hurry and soon his head was there... and his body here," Muthoni said. "The floor steamed as blood oozed. The fighters took a big hammer and crushed his head on a stone while we watched in desperation, having submitted our strength to fate."
She went on:
"When I saw one of my co-wives killed I did not cry but was seized by courage to run away with my other co-wives Kahuria, Gacheri, Nyakinyua, Nduta and Mbura. But as we ran, shots came, then I heard a sharp scream and I knew that that was Kahuria. I heard her crash behind. She was no more. I rushed on into the darkness now that the whole home was bright with light from the furnace but a strong hand grabbed me ... he looked at the last born boy I was carrying, lifted his sword up and slashed his head off... He was the last of my six children to die that night...,"
The fighters then set the entire home ablaze.
By the time government forces arrived at the burning village, the greenery of the undulating bamboo hills of Nyamweru and Githithirioni were just a smoking ridge scattered with human bodies and charred remains of animals and other property. So charred that hyenas would not touch them.
Government forces responded with brutality killing so many neighbours suspected of playing a role in the murder of Chief Luka and his family members. This today known as the Lari Massacre.
Although some people have always accused Mau Mau of carrying out the attack on Chief Luka's homestead, other theories suggest the attack was carried by some neighbours over a land dispute.
Shared
