Mother and sons arrested over girl's abduction, gang-rape

A rape victim. It is alleged that a mother and her two sons abducted the girl as she headed to school last Tuesday, and that the brothers gang-raped her with other people yet to be arrested. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Officers from Marindi Police Post and Kanyach Kachar Location Chief Bernard Omuga stormed a rental house at Pala trading centre and arrested a woman and her two sons on allegations of being behind the crime.
  • The suspects are Mary Achieng; Tyson Onyango, a 20-year-old boda boda rider Rodi Kopany; and his brother Kevin Ouma, 25.
  • It is alleged that the three abducted the girl as she headed to school last Tuesday, and that the brothers gang-raped her with other people yet to be arrested.
  • The mother and her children were apprehended on Tuesday evening after neighbours complained of suspicious activities at that house.

A 15-year-old student from Homa Bay County has been rescued from a house where she was allegedly locked up and defiled by a gang for one week.

Officers from Marindi Police Post and Kanyach Kachar Location Chief Bernard Omuga stormed a rental house at Pala trading centre and arrested a woman and her two sons on allegations of being behind the crime.

The suspects are Mary Achieng; Tyson Onyango, a 20-year-old boda boda rider Rodi Kopany; and his brother Kevin Ouma, 25.

It is alleged that the three abducted the girl as she headed to school last Tuesday, and that the brothers gang-raped her with other people yet to be arrested.

SUSPICION

The mother and her children were apprehended on Tuesday evening after neighbours complained of suspicious activities at that house.

One of the neighbours said he saw Mr Onyango, Mr Ouma and other men at the house on several occasions.

“We wondered why the boda boda rider would go back to the house, seemingly switching places with his brother who would then go to an unknown location. Their door remained closed."

POLICE CALLED

The chief said he called police after the neighbours raised these concerns.

He said it was then established that the student was kidnapped on the way back to school after going home to collect school fees.

“The student hails from Ratanga in Ndhiwa where she travelled from. Upon reaching Rodi Kopany Township, she alighted from the car she had boarded and took a motorcycle ridden by Tyson Onyango to school,” Mr Omuga said.

Mr Onyango is said to have changed direction and headed to his house in Pala, instead of the girl's school.

The chief said he lied to the student about this and that when they reached his house, he warned against alerting anybody.

'NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL'

The suspects allegedly took the money the student had and gave it to their mother who bought them food.

The victim’s parents said they gave her Sh5,000, including Sh1,000 as pocket money.

Mr Onyango, his brother and others defiled the girl in the house while their mother brought them food.

“Upon interrogation, we established the girl was defiled by more than two men. She said the men took turns defiling her," Mr Omuga said.

While noting that residents had repeatedly accused Mr Onyango of theft, the chief described him as a notorious criminal in the area.

SUSPECTS DETAINED

The men and the student underwent examinations at the county referral hospital on Wednesday.

Police took the suspects to Homa Bay Police Station and launched a search for their accomplices.

“The woman was first taken to Marindi Police Post and then collected by officers from Homa Bay Police Station," Mr Omuga said.

"Her arrest came after she was found with Sh 2,000 belonging to the student."