Two senior police officers were among the eight officers arrested over the mysterious disappearance of 13 suspects, among them suspected Nairobi’s Kware serial killer Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, from the Gigiri Police Station.
In a mind boggling escape from the highly guarded police cells, Jumaisi and twelve other suspects believed to have been Eritrean nationals are said to have broken out of the Gigiri Police Station cells at night and disappeared.
The incident left more questions than answers on how a batch of 13 suspects could peacefully walk out of a well secured neighbourhood that boosts of the United Nations office, a diplomatic police station and two embassies…United States of American and Indian that are heavily guarded round the clock.
Acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli who visited the station in the morning accompanied by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin, said preliminary investigations had indicated that some of the officers on duty aiding the suspects to escape.
“I have interdicted eight officers who were on duty last night, including the Gigiri Subcounty police commander, OCS, duty officer, station guards, and report office personnel,” a visibly angry Masengeli told journalists outside station.
Deployed to station
He added; “Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was aided by insiders, considering the officers were deployed accordingly to guard the station.”
The Sub County Police Commander Jackson Sang, who is scheduled to retire next year is a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) while the Officer Commanding Station (OCS), is a Chief Inspector of Police.
Masengeli punched holes in the narrative provided by his officers on the ground over the escape, insisting that the station is strategically located in a highly secured environment that makes it difficult for a suspect in the police cells to escape.
“All cells are surrounded by a wall, to the east are police living quarters and to the west is a diplomatic police station, which shares the compound with Gigiri Police Station,” Masengeli observed.
Besides, the police boss said the station is about 50 yards from the main gate, that is every time guarded by two armed officers. And this is besides, the fact that the station neighbours the United Nations offices and the India and US embassies which are heavily guarded.
The other suspects who escaped alongside Jumaisi were 12 Eritrean nationals who had detained for being in Kenya illegally, identified as Daniel Reso, Yosef Sarati, Adam Tetesalam, Felmon Sere, Felmon Bokr, Nenak Menan, Yonathan Reflon, Felmbas Seleba, Daniel Bokbenez, Filnan Kohene, Faham Nehomora and Felcon Samuel.
Detectives believe that some of the officers may have been bribed by the Eritrean suspects to aid them escape to avoid being deported back to their country.
Masengeli said four other suspects who had been in the cells did not escape and were assisting the police with investigations.
Deportation process
The Eritreans had been detained at the station since last week awaiting deportation process to be finalised.
“On Tuesday, at around 5:00 a.m., the officer in charge, Police Constable Gerald Mutuku, made routine visits to the cells with the canteen manager to serve breakfast to the suspects,” the report indicated.
When they opened the cell door, they were shocked to discover that the 13 suspects had escaped by cutting the wire mesh at the basking bay.
Jumaisi made headlines last month after confessing to killing at least 42 women and dumping their bodies in Kware from 2022 to 2024. He claimed that his first victim was his wife, who he strangled to death and dismembered before dumping her remains at the dumpsite.
The suspect later claimed that the police tortured him and forced him to confess to the murders. Police were last Friday granted seven more days to detain three suspects including Jumaisi linked to the Kware killings. The other two are Amos Momanyi and Moses Ogembo.
But even though Amin and his team had said the suspect had confessed to killing 42 people, it later dawned that only six bodies had been retrieved, leaving the DCI officer with an egg on the face.
This is the latest incident of a suspect escaping from police custody under mysterious circumstances.
In February this year, the main suspect in the murder of a Kenyan woman in the US, Kevin Kangethe Kinyanjui, escaped from lawful custody in unclear circumstances.
Kangethe was arrested on January 29 at Alchemist Club in Westlands Nairobi after being on the run for three months. He is said to have murdered Margaret Mbitu shortly before boarding a 16-hour flight to Nairobi to avoid prosecution.
Bought air tickets
Just like his escape appeared well planned, the fugitive also bought tickets on October 31 morning, just hours after Margaret’s death.
The officers at the station said they were approached by a man, John Maina Ndegwa, who introduced himself as the suspect’s lawyer. The man further said he wanted to talk to the suspect and the officers agreed and removed Kangethe from the cells.
After a short while, the prisoner escaped by running away and left the lawyer behind,” a police report reads. The suspect is said to have fled along the Thika superhighway and efforts to re-arrest him were fruitless.
After his arrest, Kangethe was briefly detained at the Gigiri police station and was later arraigned. The detectives from the DCI were directed to detain him for 30 days and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution began the extradition process.
To ensure he is not repatriated without a court process, Kangethe had renounced his US citizenship.
Before he was arraigned, he was positively identified in an identification parade conducted by both the local and the US law enforcement officers.
In May 2022, eight robbery with violence suspects made a dramatic escape from Thika police station cells in unclear circumstances. Three of the suspects who escaped had in November 2021 carjacked a woman and later raped her in turns as they made demands for more money from her husband.
The officer on duty said he was called by one of the suspects who requested him to take him to the toilet at around 10pm.
The officer further claimed that as he opened the cells’ door, he was attacked by the suspects who overpowered him and forcefully took the key from him which they used to open the door before they escaped.
The suspects had robbery cases pending before court and were being held there briefly after being transferred from the Industrial Area GK Prison, Nairobi.
They were identified as Livingstone Mwangi Njau, Francis Mwangi Matheri, Allan Njogu Mungai, Charles Nyaga Mitaru, and John Mbugua Murege, and Eric Ngigi Musige. Others are Eric Ngigi Musige, Arthur Ndugu Kavemba, and Bunton Kaguku Mbugua alias Bunju.
On November 15, 2021, three terror suspects -Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga a.k.a Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo a.k.a Yusuf -escaped from Kamiti Maximum Prison, leading to the sacking of the then Commissioner General of Prisons Wycliffe Ogalo.
Garissa university attack
Abikar was charged and convicted in 2019 over his links to Al-Shabaab and for abetting the Garissa University attack of April 2015 that left 148 people dead while Odhiambo was arrested in 2019 for trying to join the Somali terror group.
Akhulunga was arrested in 2012 over a foiled attack on Kenya’s parliament.
On the night of October 12, 2021, serial killer Masten Mulimu Wanjala escaped from Jogoo Road police station. The matter was before court and the accused was remanded at the police station. Following the escape, three officers were arrested and charged.
On September 25, 2021, three other inmates charged with murder also escaped from Nanyuki Prisons. The three -Lereiyo Lekiale, Nangoye Lenawaso and Mareri Tetkor -had been accused of murdering Lmalewan Lesondoreka on October 24, 2017 in Laikipia North Sub-County
In April 2020, a boda boda rider who had raped a Spanish journalist in Parklands staged an audacious escape from Parklands police station where he had been remanded by the court.
Dennis Wekesa Wanjala, a former employee of Bolt Kenya Ltd, had raped the journalist before robbing her of Sh16,000. He then changed his phone number and employer, and for over 127 days, Wanjala eluded the police until the night of March 12 when he was arrested by the detectives
