Former Harambee Stars player in police custody over alleged murder, rape

Former Gor Mahia and Harambee Stars midfielder Collins Okoth alias Gattuso has been arrested in connection to murder of a three-year-old girl found dead outside her mother’s house in Lucky Summer Estate in Starehe Sub County, Nairobi.

Okoth is in custody at the Pangani police station where the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is detaining him pending investigations into the murder.

The murder was reported to the Lucky Summer Police Station (OB17/22/04/2024) by Lucky Summer Assistant Chief Peris Muthoni, who informed the police that a child was suspected to have been murdered and dumped.

Police visited the scene and established that the child had bruises on the neck and she was half-naked, suspected to have been sexually assaulted. Police suspect she was thrown there dead.

The minor was found half-naked and dead behind the apartment where she lived with her mother in a house on the ground floor.

The child’s mother had left the house at 1am and returned at 4am to find her missing. A friend she lives with in the house was also missing.

Police constable Gilbert Kiprotich of Starehe DCI offices told a Makadara court that Okoth lived on the first floor of the same building and police arrested him because he became restless after a weapon suspected to have broken into the child’s mother’s house was recovered.

The footballer is suspected to have thrown the object through his window. He was arrested on April 23, 2024 and booked at Pangani police station vide Occurrence Book (OB) number 132/23/04/2024.

“The respondent (Okoth) packed some of his belongings in the house and was prepared to vacate from the house. On 22,4,2024, at around 6am Okoth left his house while carrying some of the clothes with a nylon paper and he came back hours later preparing to vacate the house,” the affidavit reads in part.

PC Kiprotich made the averments before Senior Principal Magistrate Gregory Mutiso while seeking permission to detain Okoth for 21 days pending investigations into an offence of murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code.

The detective said he is pursuing involvement of other suspects in the murder and he needs time to record statements of prosecution witnesses, gather mobile data records of suspects and retrieve the CCTV footage at the scene for forensic analysis.

Okoth will also be escorted to the Government Chemist for DNA analysis and later to Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital for mental assessment.

PC Kiprotich said Okoth is a flight risk since he was fleeing shortly before he was arrested.

But the former Harambee Stars and Gor Mahia player did not object to the application to have him detained for 21 days when he appeared before Mutiso on Thursday last week.

The matter will be mentioned on June 3, 2024.