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Name: MELONCELLI, Nereena, Mrs

Death Date: 25 Apr 1953 murdered by Mau Mau

Nationality: Italian

Children: Maria; Mario (both murderd by Mau Mau aged 12 and 13, 25 Apr 1953)

Book Reference: Ione, Bartlett

General Information:

Ione - Murder of an Italian woman, Mrs Nereena Meloncelli, her 2 children and her Kikuyu cook was perpetrated by a gang under 'General China's' leadership. Mrs Meloncelli had arrived in the country to join her husband, who was managing some sawmills on the foothills of Mt. Kenya .....…..
On 25th April 1953, 10 days after she arrived, a gang of 30 descended on her. Wearing grass headress and masks, screaming and shouting, they surrounded the house, fired through the windows and then burst inside. First they hacked Mrs Meloncelli and the cook to death, then they rushed into the bedroom and seized Maria, a girl of 15. The small boy, Mario, hid himself in the wardrobe, but they dragged him out, and cut him to pieces. The most horrible circumstance of the murder was the mutilation of the children's bodies, from whom certain members were cut off and carried away for Mau Mau ceremonials.
Bartlett - Italian sawmiller - One morning the Italian went to work at the mill which was situated across a small valley from his house. While he was there he heard screams and shots coming from his home. He tried to run back to the house but was shot at and forced to flee. When the police or security forces arrived they found his wife, daughter and son, aged 12 and 13, dead. They had been hacked up, as was the African servant whose severed head was stuffed into the woman's stomach which had been disembowelled. The Italian became demented and was sent back to Italy.

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