5 men arrested for gang raping 16-year-old girl to punish her father

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested five men in connection with the abduction and gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Kilifi County to punish the girl’s father in a land dispute.

In the heinous incident, the investigation of which has been ongoing since June 16, 2024, it was found that two men, aged 42 and 63, who allegedly had a dispute over a property with the minor’s father, had planned to kidnap the girl.

The two, together with 21-year-old Elijah Dadi Robert, had planned to kidnap the eighth-grader and then taken her hostage in an abandoned posho mill.

She was kidnapped on her way home from a local school in Mitangoni district.

“The men, identified as Karisa Kashindo, 42, and his security man Nderi Magure Mwatsuma alias Ubwete, 63, were said to have stood guard and watched as the third suspect repeatedly raped the minor and threatened to kill her if she confided the bestial act to anyone,” DCI reported.

She was secretly taken home under cover of darkness and the girl was made to pack a few items of clothing. She was then abducted again on a motorbike to the Shariani area, to a Makuti house in Makata village. There she experienced trauma and the anguish of her distraught parents while the local police frantically searched her.

During her stay in Makata, the victim, who has since been rescued and reunited with her family, stated that her abductors brought several other young men who also raped her. Two of them were identified and arrested on June 29, 2024.

Investigative questioning of the second group of suspects, 19-year-old Fostine Kalu Tinga and 19-year-old Kelvin Kiti Sanga, revealed that both are grade 2 and 3 students respectively.

During an operation led by the Chonyi Sub-County Detective Inspector, evidence was found and documented at the two crime scenes.

The evidence not only supported the victim’s allegations, but also pointed to the abduction of two other teenagers, whose rescue is currently underway.

All five suspects are being held at Kilifi Police Station while officers continue their investigations to arrest other suspects connected to the crime.