A Kenyan female university student kidnapped on January 26, 2023, has been rescued by detectives after being held hostage for five days.
Daisy Chebet Barno, a fourth-year student at Egerton University, was kidnapped by three men in Kabarak, Nakuru County, northwest of Nairobi and taken to an unknown destination, leaving her family in anguish.
Unknown to Daisy, her friend Faith Mwende; also her coursemate at the Nakuru town campus, had conspired with her boyfriend and other thugs to kidnap Daisy and demand a ransom from her supposedly well-to-do family.
On the day of her kidnapping, Daisy had been invited for late lunch by Mwende’s boyfriend, Simon Akuteka, 39, who lives with his wife in Rwanda.
After being convinced that Mwende would be joining them later, she obliged and got into Akuteka’s car, which detectives later learnt belonged to a car hire agent based in Nairobi.
Once in the car, Akuteka drove towards Kabarak after excusing himself to pick up a parcel. However, along the way, he stopped the car suddenly and two men got into the vehicle.
The trio informed Daisy that she had been kidnapped and demanded for a ransom of Ksh600,000 (USD$ 6000) from Daisy’s family.
They drove to Ruiru, central Kenya, where they took a two-bedroomed Airbnb and locked Daisy in one of the bedrooms.
“Mwende who had since joined them took the other bedroom where they made merry with her partner, after Daisy’s family sent an initial Sh50,000 USD$500),” said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
“Unknown to the thugs, detectives who had received a distress call from Daisy’s family were closely monitoring their movements as they operated between Thika, Murang’a, Kajiado and Ruiru during the day, in a bid to outwit the officers.”
But the detectives based at the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau went after the four in the apartment.
A brief altercation ensued as the sleuths introduced themselves to the thugs after they defied orders to surrender and engaged the officers in a fistfight.
Following the successful raid, also supported by detectives drawn from DCI Nakuru and Ruiru, all four suspects were arrested, and Daisy was rescued.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the main suspect Simon Akuteka is a fugitive who has several cases of stealing motor vehicles pending before court in Nairobi and Kisumu.
The second suspect John Mbau, 38, also has similar motor vehicle stealing cases pending before several courts. At the same time, the third, Elijah Chege, 31, is a small-time thug based at Witeithie, central Kenya, who was recently introduced to serious crimes.
Faith Mwende, who conspired against her friend and coursemate, is also a guest of the state as detectives complete their investigations before arraigning the four in court.
One cello tape, a rope, assorted mobile phones, several sim cards and the victim’s identity card were recovered from the said suspects.
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