Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested 5 men linked to the abduction and gang raping a 16-year-old girl in Kilifi County, as a way of punishing the girl’s father in a land dispute.
In the abominable incident whose investigation has been going on since June 16, 2024, two men aged 42 and 63, and who are believed to have a land tussle with the minor’s dad, were found to have planned the girl’s abduction.
The two had planned the abduction of the grade 8 pupil with the 21-year-old Elijah Dadi Robert, before holding her hostage at an abandoned posho mill.
She was abducted while going home from a local school within Mitangoni area.
“The men identified as Karisa Kashindo, 42 and his security man Nderi Magure Mwatsuma alias Ubwete, 63 are said to have stood guard and watched as the third suspect repeatedly defiled the minor, threatening to kill her should she expose the beastly act to anyone,” DCI reported.
Sneaking her to her home in the cover of darkness, the girl was made to pack a few clothes before she was again whisked away on a motorcycle to Shariani area at a Makuti house within Makata village, to her trauma and the agony of her desperate parents amidst frantic search by the local police.
While at Makata, the victim who has since been rescued and reunited with her family revealed that her abductors brought in several other young men who also defiled her, two of whom were identified and arrested on June 29, 2024.
Investigative interviewing on the second batch of suspects identified as Fostine Kalu Tinga, 19 and Kelvin Kiti Sanga revealed that they are both students in Form 2 and Form 3 respectively.
In an operation led by the Chonyi Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer, evidential materials were found and documented from the two crime scenes.
The evidence not only supported the victim’s allegations but also pointed to the abduction of two other juveniles whose rescue is underway.
All the five suspects are being held at the police station in Kilifi, as officers continue with investigations to arrest more suspects linked to the crime.