NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 14 – Prior to his suspicious escape from police custody at the Jogoo Road police Station in Nairobi, now riddled in absolute mystery, self-confessed children serial-killer Masten Wanjala had spent 30 days in police custody after homicide detectives were granted permission to detain him further, pending the conclusion of investigations.
Wanjala had confessed to abducting and killing 13 children from various parts of the country.
His day of reckoning had apparently come on Wednesday and Wanjala was finally set to be arraigned in order to take a plea. He was facing 13 counts of murder charges.
But on Wednesday morning, a routine roll call at around 7 am by officers on duty at the station revealed that the suspect was ‘unaccounted for’ and glaringly missing.
Concerned officers immediately went into panic mode running through the station and even visiting the holding cells, but Wanjala could not be found.
“They informed the deputy OCS who informed the OCPD Buruburu and raised alarm and the area was combed in order to rearrest the prisoner,” an incident report seen by Shahidi News reads.
The nature of his escape is however shrouded in mystery with police unable to explain how he managed to flee from what is perceived to be a highly guarded facility.
Sources however revealed that at least three officers at the station during the incident, including the station deputy OCS have been taken in for questioning and will be arraigned Thursday.
“IP Philip Mbithi, PC Kamakia Mutuma Boniface and PC Precious Mwende Mwinziall of Jogoo Road Police Stationwere arrested by officers fromRCIO’s office Nairobi for the offence of aiding escape from lawful custody and neglect of official duty contrary to section 124 and 128 of the penal code respectively,” read a report by police.
The suspect is said to have been put in a separate holding facility but later moved to a cell with other arrested suspects.
Masten is on Monday said to have reportedly fallen ill and was taken to hospital by police.
Those interviewed told high-ranking officers who visited the station on a fact-finding mission that they are not sure when or how the suspect might have escaped from the cells.
A power outage had been reported in the station Tuesday evening and Kenya power officers called in to sort the matter. This however has not been attributed to the escape in anyway,said police.
Other officers in the station were also interviewed on the suspicious incident.
Police who spoke to Shahidi News and sought anonymity said that the case was a classic incident of ’negligence’ on the officers’ part.
Wanjala who has killed a total of 12 people confessed to having sodomised and sucked the blood of his victims before killing them.
Homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) upon confession by the suspect visited several crime scenes in Kajiado, Kiambu, Machakos and Bungoma where they recovered bodies of slain children.
Sleuths also launched investigations against several suspects said to have helped Wanjala during the gruesome killings.
The suspect was arrested after police tracked down his mobile phone in Kitengela township on July 13. At that point, he has used his phone to solicit ransom after abducting two children in Majengo area of Nairobi County.
A nationwide search for the suspected serial killer is ongoing,
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