Police in Kisumu have arrested a suspected serial kidnapper and rescued two girls aged between six and seven years old.
The minors went missing two months ago.
The suspect is said to have kidnapped one of the girls in Kisii town and grabbed the second child at a funeral ceremony in Chabera village, Homa Bay County.
It is feared that the man may have been involved in a series of kidnappings in the region. A parent of one of the rescued children told investigators that the suspect had abandoned another young girl during the Chabera abduction.
“He attended the funeral just like any other mourner. He spent two nights, but on the third day, he disappeared with my daughter leaving behind a 10-year-old girl he had come with. We later learned that the child was stolen from Oyugis,” she said.
The suspect’s cover was blown on Sunday after one of the women who contributed money for his bus fare at a market called Obambo in Kisumu West sub-county three weeks ago identified him at a burial ceremony in the area along with the children.
When questioned by the area chief, Mary Adhiambo, the suspect’s explanation raised suspicions, prompting the chief to call in the police.
“When we asked him about his home area, he fumbled. He could not even remember the name of his location yet he claimed to hail from a village in Sori, Migori County,” said the chief.
But before police could whisk him away, the woman who had raised the alarm remembered that Ms A -Name withheld to protect minors suspected of being victims of sexual abuse- had come to Obambo market, two days after the suspect left with the children, to report that her missing daughter had been spotted in the area.
“I called the market in charge since she was the one who had spoken with the woman and she gave me the stranger’s number. It later emerged that one of the minors who was abducted in Kisii town on August 18 belonged to her,” explained the administrator.
Ms A said the suspect, who was mostly seen on the streets of Kisii town in the company of a little girl he claimed was his daughter, frequented her kiosk to buy food.
Ms A said that the numerous visits to her stall yielded a friendship bond between her seven-year-old daughter and the suspect’s ‘child’.
“On the fateful day, he lured my girl with promises of buying her snacks from a nearby shop. That’s the last time I saw my daughter,” Ms A said.
She would later receive a tip from a relative that her missing child had been seen in the company of a man at Otonglo market, on the outskirts of Kisumu City.
“When I responded, I was told that the suspect had already left but had been spotted at Obambo market,” she said.
The area chief said that the children had disclosed to them during interrogation that their abductor molested them sexually.
“They told us that he would spread a sack in the bush and defile them during the night,” Ms Adhiambo narrated.
The suspect is currently being held at Maseno Police Station.
Area OCPD, Julius Meli, said he will soon be transferred to Chabera police station where one of the kidnapping reports was made.
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