"Thief! Thief!! thief!!!" I heard people screaming beside the expressway.
"When will these boys find jobs to do instead of stealing?" I asked myself.
I had come out of my home to the expressway in order to take a taxi to work that morning. My joy knew no bounds because I had been a victim of the thieves at the same spot a few weeks earlier.
The junction has many roads that lead to residential areas. At dawn, it is always a rush hour for workers jumping over one another to board vehicles to work.
I was waiting for the arrival of a commercial bus. I saw others in their numbers around me waiting for the same purpose.
When the next available bus came, I was lucky that it parked right at the spot where I was standing. I hopped in immediately while a few others struggled with me. I felt a contact on my pants pocket. I knew that what I just experienced has its implications. It would take me equal energy to get into the bus and sit or withdraw my hands from the door frame to access my belongings in my pocket. I decided to go with the former. Immediately I took my seat, the conductor closed the door and the driver drove off. I reached out to my pocket and my purse couldn't be found. It had been stolen.
"My purse! My purse!!" I shouted.
Unfortunately, alighting from the bus to follow the thief wasn't tenable. My purse with all that was inside was gone.
My heart raced in my chest, thinking of where to get money to pay the conductor. I was bailed out by another passenger. I wished I could get the thief to face justice for what he subjected me to.
From the ugly experience, I have been praying for the thieves to meet their day of reckoning.
"Today is yours, face the music," I murmured to myself.
A bus parked for me to board.
"Where is the petrol and matches?" I could hear someone from the mob asking another.
"Jungle justice? No, not again," I screamed and got off the bus. I pleaded with the driver to continue his journey.
I ran towards the crowd. The accused was sitting on the ground tired. He had been beaten to a pulp. His eyes were red with a pool of sweat flowing from his forehead down his cheek.
"Please don't do this to me. I am innocent." I could barely hear his voice as he pleaded his innocence.
Beside him were two tyres. The materials being awaited before executing the extrajudicial capital punishment were petrol and matches.
"Stop it! Stop it!!" I screamed on top of my voice.
The mob turned to listen to me.
"What is his offense that is prompting you people to take laws into your hands?"
"He is a thief. He stole my phone and purse," a middle-aged man replied.
"It's not true. I am not a thief. Water, water, water," the accused with obvious signs of dehydration and weakness pleaded for water.
I pleaded with the people to hand him over to the police.
"Let's not be the prosecutor and the judge in this case. There is no justification for jungle justice. The job of investigation and prosecution is for the police."
Majority of the people were not comfortable with my plea.
"We need to use one person as a scapegoat. When he meets his end here today, it will serve as deterrent to others," someone whispered from behind.
I continued pleading with the mob. I have started achieving success in calming the angry nerves when a police team arrived in their van. I felt a sigh of relief. The accused was rescued from the mob by the police. The purse that he allegedly stole was recovered by the police.
The accused and the owner of the purse were taken into custody. The station wasn't far from the spot of the encounter. I was interested in knowing where the case would end. I followed the team to the station.
Upon my arrival at the station, the accused had been given water to revive him. The interrogation started;
"How did the incident happen?" The police spokesperson asked the person that was robbed.
"I was holding my phone and a purse when I suddenly felt a pull from someone. It came unexpectedly. All I could do was shout at the thief repeatedly in order to call the attention of passersby.
"He was pursued and arrested by the people that came to my rescue. Unfortunately we only found the purse with him."
"What about the phone?" The policeman cuts in.
"What he did with the phone within a few minutes remains a mirage. We couldn't find the phone on him."
"Young man, what's your name?" The policeman turned to the accused.
"Kennedy, Sir."
"Alright Kennedy, it's time for you to tell us what transpired this morning."
"I came to visit a friend. While coming out of the street to come and board a taxi at the expressway, a man stopped me to ask me for directions to where he was going. He brought out a purse to show me a card in it.
"I was reading through the card when I heard some people shouting at a thief. I raised my head and I couldn't find the man that gave me the purse and card. Before I could understand what was happening, the crowd caught up with me and arrested me with the purse."
"What about the phone?" The policeman asked.
"I didn't set my eyes on any phone not to talk about knowing where it is."
The police collected the statements in written form. Kennedy was locked up and the investigation began.
The phone was tracked to its current location and the thief was arrested. Upon interrogation, he corroborated with the explanation of Kennedy.
"I diverted the attention of my chasers to him with my action. I needed to devise a tactic to stop the people from chasing me. I achieved my aim of diverting their attention before I escaped through a nearby market," the suspect whose eyes scanned through everyone standing explained. No sign of remorse.
The innocence of Kennedy was proven and he was released. The DPO condemned the near death experience of Kennedy;
"Many innocent souls have gone as a result of jungle justice. You are lucky that people that understand the grave consequence of jungle justice came your way."
"If you see any disturbance of public order, invite the police before anything else," he turned to advice everyone present.
"Sorry for the inconveniences that you passed through. You have been left off the hook, the policeman concluded.
The arrested criminal was locked up in preparation for prosecution.
"You saved my life even when I had lost every hope of survival. Thank you so much," Kennedy jumped over me in appreciation.
"With proper orientation, we will stem out the menace of jungle justice that has killed many people unjustly." Those were my final words as we hugged each other before leaving the police station.