Nyandarua police hunt for 8 suspects who escaped from custody
A police cell.
What you need to know:
- The 10 suspects, all men, were being held at the station for differences offences pending their appearance in court.
- Police at the station say that the 10 escaped from police custody by cutting the window grille at around 2am.
- It is reported that four police officers were manning the station when the suspects broke out.
Police in Nyandarua County have intensified a hunt for eight people who were among 10 suspects who escaped from Ndaragwa police station in mysterious circumstances.
The 10 suspects, all men, were being held at the station for differences offences pending their appearance in court.
Others had already been taken to court before they escaped on Monday night.
Police at the station say that the 10 escaped from police custody by cutting the window grille at around 2am.
It is reported that four police officers were manning the station when the suspects broke out.
“The suspects were being held at the station for various offences. Five suspects, however, remained behind,” said Nyandarua North Sub-County Police Commander Timon Odingo.
However, he noted that four of the escapees were re-arrested on Tuesday morning.
“Our officers managed to arrest four of the escapees from a hideout at Uruku trading centre.
"We are still searching for the rest who are still at large,” he said and urged members of the public to provide police with information that could lead to their arrest.
Among those who had escaped was a suspect who was facing attempted murder charges and another one who was facing rape charges. The rest were petty offence suspects.
“The suspects will be arraigned once re-arrested to face charges of escaping from lawful custody,” said Mr Odingo.
Police in the region have complained over increasing congestion in police cells.
Meanwhile, designated remand centres that serve the region continue to reject inmates and offenders for lack of space and Covid-19 clearance certificates.
The Department for Correctional Services has set up 20 regional centres across the country with the region being served by designated quarantine centres at King’ong’o in Nyeri, Naivasha and Nakuru prisons.
At the centres, newly sentenced inmates are supposed to be held for 21 days pending clearance for Covid-19 before being transferred to prison to integrate with the rest of the prison population.
However, police say that their efforts to seek remand space at the designated facilities have hit a snag as the centres are full.
Police lament that the requirement to have the inmates cleared for Covid-19 has been worsened by the prison wardens demanding a certificate.
Those placed in quarantine centres have had their sentencing delayed as the suspects were not made available during the mention of their cases.
