Ugandan murder suspect who escaped from custody rearrested
The suspect was seized when police officers stormed his hideout at Kangai village.
What you need to know:
- Following the escape, two police officers, who were on official duty, were arrested.
- Deceased woman, Rose Muthoni Kariuki, had been living alone before she met her death.
A Ugandan national who escaped from lawful custody has been re-arrested by police in Kirinyaga County.
The suspect, who is suspected of murder, was seized on Tuesday when police officers stormed his hideout at Kangai village in Mwea Constituency.
Acting on a tip-off from the public, the officers took the suspect by surprise, seized and whisked him off to Sagana Police Station where he is being held for questioning.
Confirming the arrest, Kirinyaga police commander Andrew Naibei said the suspect will be charged with escaping from lawful custody.
He thanked area residents for helping the police to flush out the suspect from his hiding place.
"The residents cooperated with our officers, making it easy for us to trace and re-arrest the suspect," he said.
Read: 'Why I shot a man dead'
On Friday last week, the suspect sneaked out of Kiamaciri Police Station where he was being held while awaiting to be charged with murder.
Following the escape, two police officers, who were on official duty, were arrested.
The two officers will be charged with aiding the suspect to escape from lawful custody.
Kirinyaga County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Jason Mworia said the suspect is now heavily guarded and would soon be arraigned.
Mr Mworia cautioned residents against employing strangers.
"Residents should hire farmhands they know for their safety. Some of the people seeking to be employed as casual labourers are notorious criminal," said Mr Mworia.
The suspect went into hiding in November last year after he allegedly murdered his employer, Rose Muthoni Kariuki, at Kombuini village in Mwea and escaped with her mobile phone.
The deceased was found inside her house with blood oozing from the mouth and nose. The deceased also bore bruises on the neck.
Neighbours and family members became suspicious when they failed to see the deceased and decided to check on her.
That is when the body of the deceased was discovered inside her house.
The farmhand, who is believed to have had a hand in the murder, was missing from the homestead of the deceased.
Residents said the deceased woman, who was 64 years old at the time of her death, had been living alone before she met her death.
"The deceased had employed the young man from Uganda to work in the farm as her children were away from home," one of the residents said.
They described her as a humble, God-fearing and friendly person who did not deserve such a painful death.
The suspect was later arrested but escaped while being taken back to court.
Detectives travelled to Uganda and flushed him from his hideout and re-arrested him.
When the suspect was arrested the residents and the family celebrated. But their joy was short-lived when the suspect walked out of the heavily guarded police station unnoticed.
Detectives explained how they tracked down the mobile phone number of the suspect and caught up with him at his hideout and brought him back to Kirinyaga where he allegedly committed murder.
The phone belonging to the slain employer was also recovered from the suspect.
