Man arrested for ‘drugging and sodomising’ nine boys

By ROBERT WANYONYI

Bungoma County: Kenya: Police in Bungoma have arrested an elderly man accused of sodomising nine boys.

The man believed to be in his 70s and who had gone underground after the youngsters reported him to their parents was finally tracked down by a local vigilante group to a house within Mjini slums in Bungoma town before being arrested.

He was said to have sodomised the boys after drugging them. “We are preparing his case file before taking him to court to answer to the charges,” Bungoma South OCPD Kirinya Limpitu told The Standard.

The police boss added that two of the victims have been admitted in hospital while seven others are at large after word leaked about the man’s acts.

“What we are lacking is detailed information because the public is yet to volunteer enough information. What we are currently relying on is a complaint by a victim that eventually led to the arrest,” said Limpitu.

Villagers said the man used to send the young boys to scavenge for scrap metal that they later sold to businessmen within Bungoma town and brought the money to him for his own use. “One of the boys went missing and after a month of searching he was found in the man’s house,” said a neighbour.

Evil spirits

It was said the 15-year-old had been sent by his grandmother to buy some items at a local shopping centre only to be waylaid by the suspect on his way back home.

“I suspect he might have drugged me because the last thing I remember was someone approaching from behind me. I woke up around midnight to find myself sleeping in a dimly-lit room but in the midst of another group of boys,” said the rescued victim.

The boy added that he had been sent to look for scrap metal with his colleagues when his grandmother spotted him and took him home but the other boys fled for fear of arrest.

“I can identify four of the boys who used to stay with us,” the boy said.

The suspect claimed he was possessed by evil spirits that drove him to engage in the unnatural act.