KIAMBU, Kenya, Dec 6 – A 35-year-old-man who defiled his niece aged four escaped from Gatundu Law Courts shortly after he was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Tuesday afternoon.
Police and Prisons officials said John Gathekia Karanja escaped as he was being escorted from court to the cells.
Officials are questioning how the convict escaped from the eyes of security personnel at the court precincts without any use of firearms to prevent his escape.
According to police regulations, firearms or deadly force can be used to save the life of the officer or any other person, in self-defense, and to prevent a person charged with a serious offence from escaping lawful custody.
Officials said Karanja had been picked up from Thika Prison remand and taken to court for his judgment.
He was then sentenced to 59 years in jail. And as the officers were escorting him back to the court cells within the court corridors he allegedly sneaked and jumped over the court wall and escaped.
The officers who were escorting him tried to chase him in vain as he disappeared into the bushes behind the court building within Ituru village.
Police were mobilized in effort to get him and even used their dogs for tracking in vain.
The convict hails from Gitwe village in Gacharage, Gatundu South.
Kiambu County police commander Perminus Kioi said efforts to trace the convict are ongoing and appealed to locals to help with information in case they see him.
“The man is a threat to society and that is why we need to have him back in custody,” said Kioi.
Want to send us a story? Contact Shahidi News Tel: +254115512797 (Mobile & WhatsApp)
