Rape convict escapes from Migori GK Prison

Rape convict

A man serving seven-year-jail term for rape in the Migori GK Prison has escaped.

Photo credit: Pool I Nation Media Group

A man serving seven year jail term for rape in the Migori GK Prison has escaped.

Boniface Maneno, 26, disappeared under unclear circumstances.

He was working with other inmates outside a building in the prison on Tuesday evening, said Corporal Jared Ogeto, who reported the incident.

He began a seven-year jail sentence on October 6 after a Migori court found him guilty of raping a woman.

The incident was under investigation, Migori County Police Commander Mark Wanjala told the Nation.

“He has not been found up to now but we are working around the clock to trace him,” he said by phone.

Four years ago, a convict serving time for robbery with violence escaped from the same prison. He slipped through a fence and disappeared into adjacent thickets.

Separately, a suspected cattle rustler in Kuria East narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob after he was found with stolen animals in his compound.

It all started when Mr James Tereri Rioba of Getongomora village reported to police that he found his three cows missing when he woke up on Monday morning.

Angry at the loss, he mobilised his neighbours and they started tracing the animals’ footmarks, which led them to the house of Mr Samuel Mwita Gikure, 24, in Nyaitara sub-location. All the animals were found tethered in an enclosure.

After confiscating the cows from the man, the angry neighbours started beating him up.

The suspect would have had his date with the angel of death in his own backyard if officers from the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) from Getongomora had not arrived at the scene.

Officers fired three rounds of ammunition into the air to disperse the angry crowd, which charged at them in an attempt to snatch back the suspect.

Mr Gikure was rushed to Kegonga Sub-County Hospital before being taken into custody.

He was later taken to a Kehancha court, where he pleaded guilty to stealing Mr Rioba’s livestock, said Migori County Police Commander Mark Wanjala.

“That guy was taken to court and he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to two years in prison,” Mr Wanjala told the Nation by phone.