A female university student who was kidnapped on January 26, 2022 was last night rescued by detectives after being held hostage for five days.
Daisy Chebet Barno, a fourth year student at Egerton University was kidnapped by three men in Kabarak, Baringo county and taken to an unknown destination.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) her friend Faith Mwende who is also her course mate at the Nakuru town campus had conspired with her boyfriend and other thugs to kidnap Daisy and demand a ransom from her supposedly well-to-do family.
“On the day of her kidnapping, Daisy had been invited for late lunch by Mwende’s boyfriend Simon Akuteka, 39, who lives with his wife in Rwanda, After being convinced that Mwende would be joining them later she obliged and got into Akuteka’s car, which detectives later learnt belonged to a car hire agent based in Nairobi,” DCI stated.
According to DCI, once in the car, Akuteka drove towards Kabarak after excusing himself to pick a parcel.
However, along the way he stopped the car suddenly and two men got into the vehicle.
DCI stated that the trio informed Daisy that she had been kidnapped and demanded for a ransom of Sh600,000 from Daisy’s family.
“They drove to Ruiru at around OJ restaurant where they took a 2 bedroomed airbnb and locked Daisy in one of the bedrooms. Mwende who had since joined them took the other bedroom where they made merry with her partner, after Daisy’s family sent an initial Sh50,000,” DCI added.
Upon receiving the distress call, the victim’s parents reported the matter to the police which prompted action.
Investigations by the detectives led them to the discovery of their hideout in Ruiru after having oscillated between four towns within the Nairobi metropolis.
The detectives were operating between Thika, Murang’a, Kajiado and Ruiru during the day in a bid to outwit the officers.
“But the sleuths based at the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau went after the four with the stealth of a leopard and finally pounced on them last night at the apartment. A brief altercation ensued as the sleuths introduced themselves to the thugs, after they defied orders to surrender and engaged the officers in a fistfight,” DCI stated.
Following the successful raid also supported by detectives drawn from DCI Nakuru and Ruiru, all the four suspects were arrested and Daisy rescued.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the main suspect, Akuteka is a fugitive who has several cases of stealing motor vehicles pending before court in Nairobi and Kisumu.
The second suspect John Mbau, 38, also has similar motor vehicle stealing cases pending before several courts, while the third Elijah Chege, 31, is a small time offender based at Witeithie, who was recently introduced to serious crimes.
Detectives recovered one cellotape, a rope, assorted mobile phones, several sim cards and the identity card of the victim from the aforementioned suspects.
Further investigations into the matter are still ongoing before the four suspects are arraigned.
