NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14- The prime suspect in the March 4 incident that left a United Nations diplomat sexually assaulted in Nairobi has been arrested.
The suspect, identified by police as Zacharia Nyaora Obadia was arrested at the border of Kenya and Tanzania.
He escaped the police dragnet last week after detectives went looking for him in Mukuru slums. Obadia was a Boda Boda operator based in Nairobi.
Detectives said he had crossed into Tanzania when they alerted their counterparts.
The DCI said he was brought to the Isebania One-Stop Border Post for grilling before the team left for Nairobi.
The suspect had been on the run and could communicate with his relatives in Kisii while on the move towards the border area.
He was among a group of boda boda riders who confronted and harassed a female driver in the city in an incident that sparked a nationwide crackdown on the operators.
DCI said the suspect was scientifically placed at the crime scene before he was traced down to Mukuru Kaiyaba informal settlement.
He however managed to narrowly escape the detectives’ dragnet through a sewer duct in the densely populated settlement.
“Using digital forensics, the sleuths working with cybercrime experts at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, placed the thug at the scene of the crime scientifically and went after him this afternoon deep in Mukuru Kayaba informal settlement,” police said.
The suspect is also said to have been positively identified on the video capturing the sexual assault incident by his wife and other relatives in his rural home.
While assuring of his looming arrest, the DCI further issued an ultimatum for Nyaora’s accomplices to surrender saying that they too have been identified.
Obadia was alongside a host of suspects who have since been arrested and arraigned.
They are being detained at the Gigiri police station for 15 days, pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigations.
The incident sparked widespread protests by Kenyans, including senior government officials.
Days later, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared a national wide operation to weed out rogue members of the sector.
The operation was however stopped after a section of politicians protested police harassment.
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