THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF JOHN KIRIAMITI
A Thread ππΎππΎ
A Thread ππΎππΎ
John Kiriamiti was born in Thuita Village, Kamacharia Location of Murang'a District in Central Kenya. He is the second born in a family of nine children. His parents were Albert and Anne Wanjiru Kiriamiti, both primary school teachers in Murang'a.
He started engaging himself in criminal activities just at the age of 20 in the 1970s. His aliases were:
β’ Jack Zollo
β’ Albert Ngure
β’ Charles Lukindo
Among others...
β’ Jack Zollo
β’ Albert Ngure
β’ Charles Lukindo
Among others...
Unlike other gang members, Kiriamiti's criminal gang planned out it's activities meticulously with Kiriamiti himself being the ring leader. They always came up with a well thought plan on how to deal with the police incase they caught up with them. Needless to say, they were
always a step ahead of the police officers. They used guns and other deadly weapons to carry out their criminal activities which ranged from robbing banks to stealing people's valuables.
He is famed for taking part in a record braking Bank robbery which only lasted for five minutes in Naivasha. The other peculiar thing about this robbery is that it just took place in front of President Moi's motorcade as he was headed to Nakuru for a function.
"We had to do it and for us to ensure that we did it, we had to do it fast," he narrated. Time was running out on them and there was also heavy security presence around that area at that time. It still remains a mystery how they managed to pull such a heist.
They managed to get away with Kshs. 500000 which was a lot of money at that time.
He revealed that most of the bank robberies in which they engaged in were just inside jobs. They had a lot of information on the bank prior to the Robbing, consequently, making their work easier
This led to a manhunt for John Kiriamiti. The police were on their toes looking for him everywhere and mostly his hideouts
One officer in particular, Patrick Shaw, was in charge of the taskforce that led the manhunt for the notorious criminal turned writer. They didn't leave any stone unturned. They searched for him almost everywhere.
Eventually, they managed to catch up with John Kiriamiti as they surrounded a bar he was in with some of his friends along River Road, Nairobi. He was found guilty and locked up for 7 years in prison.
The police heaved a sigh of relief during those seven years in which he was locked up. Little did they know that Kiriamiti was becoming a more hardened criminal during the time he spent in jail as he got to interact with other hardcore criminals at Kamiti
After spending his time there, he was later on released and continue to create more havoc to the people. He continued from where he left and gave the police even more hard time.
He was at one time shot during an altercation with the police. With the bullet inside him, he went all the way to Murang'a, his home, to seek medical attention. All hospitals in Nairobi had been informed about alerting the authorities when they receive a casualty with a gunshot
wound hence he couldn't get any treatment in the city. He somehow managed to get treatment and resumed his life in crime creating more havoc this time round. John Kiriamiti's gang really pushed the police to the wall.
Little did he know about what would befell him when one day he decided to travel home to Murang'a, to see his mother. News had spread that Kiriamiti was around. Consequently, police officers headed straight to his mother's house and surrounded it.
More than twenty police officers had come to get him. Trying not to cause any havoc and hurt anyone around, he decided to surrender himself to the police right in front of his mother. Kiriamiti was taken to court and found guilty of the crimes he committed ranging from bank
robberies to killing innocent people. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail and giving 28 strokes of the cane. It was during that period that he wrote his book, My Life in Crime. It's basically a more detailed story about what really happened before he turned into an author.
He was later on released and published the book. Today, he is a well known writer. He has also written other books.Kiriamiti's books include:
My Life in Crime β 1980
My Life with a Criminal: Milly's Story- 1984
Son of Fate β 1994
My Life in Crime β 1980
My Life with a Criminal: Milly's Story- 1984
Son of Fate β 1994
The Sinister Trophy β 2000
My Life in Prison β 2004
The Abduction Squad
City Carjackers
My Life in Prison β 2004
The Abduction Squad
City Carjackers
he has also become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu
version, Inooro in 1995. It's also worth noting that Kiriamiti also got arrested a while back after being accused of having been involved in the 1982 coup attempt.
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