Police have arrested the main suspect behind an attack in Nyamira County that left a Nominated Member of the County Assembly (MCA) High School Principal and a County Executive member, among others, nursing serious injuries.
A police report indicates the suspect, who has been identified as Joseph Otieno Kevuva, was among a gang of over 10 armed people who staged a brazen siege of a homestead in Keroka’s Kierira village for over 7 hours in October 2023 and violently robbed the victims.
The suspect was escorted to Nyamira County headquarters where an identification parade was conducted.
Some of the victims are said to have positively identified him before detectives made a miscellaneous application to detain him for interrogation.
During the attack that affected over 13 victims, assorted mobile phones, over Sh130,000 in cash were stolen.
The suspects are also said to have forced the hostages to transfer monies from their bank accounts to mobile phones. The amounts were later stolen.
“After subduing the victims with beatings and death threats, members of the gang who were armed with a pistol, machetes, and other crude weapons forced themselves into three of the women in turns, before escaping with their loot after 7hrs of inflicting untold terror and trauma on the hostages. Reportedly, the incident happened from 9pm to 4am on the fateful night,” police detectives said in a statement.
When the incident was reported, authorities intensified the search for the suspects on October 24, 2023.
“Backed up by crime research detectives and the crime scene support teams who processed the scene for crucial leads, the investigating team placed a suspected ring leader at the scene before tracking him down in Kondele, Kisumu County.”
The victims were attended in various hospitals in the county and samples were taken from the sexually abused victims.
The detectives are also pursuing the remaining nine suspected gang members.
