Police arrest key suspect in motorist attack

The suspected mastermind of the sexual attack on a foreign motorist in Parklands, Nairobi, was yesterday arrested at the Kenya-Tanzania border, just before he could cross to the neighbouring country.

Zacharia Nyaora Obadiah has been on the run since March 4 when he, together with a horde of boda boda riders, allegedly attacked a United Nations employee following an accident at the Wangari Mathai-Limuru road intersection.

The suspect had sneaked into Migori County through Nakuru and Kisii where he spent two days apiece.

On March 8, four days after the attack, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) positively identified him as the main suspect and tracked him to his residence in Mukuru Kaiyaba slums in Nairobi.

Narrowly escaped

He, however, narrowly escaped the police dragnet and went underground until yesterday when he was nabbed more than 400 kilometres from Nairobi.

“Obadiah, who masterminded the ghastly sexual attack on a woman along Wangari Maathai road, has been arrested minutes ago at the Kenya-Tanzania border in Sirare,” the DCI said.

The DCI said detectives from the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) together with those from the Nairobi DCI regional command pounced on Obadiah as he tried to cross the border to Tanzania through a panya (illegal)  route.

The arrest came a week after he escaped a police raid in the slum by escaping through a sewer duct.

A day after the escape, he travelled to Nakuru and stayed at the Kaptembwa area for two days. After that, he proceeded to Kisii and stayed for another two days at Tombe market, Nyamira County.

On Sunday, he travelled to Migori and stayed briefly at the Sirare border before he was arrested.

Following the incident, several riders were arrested in connection with the incident which drew widespread condemnation, coming on the eve of the International Women’s Day celebrations.

Obadiah, together with 16 other suspects already in police custody, could be staring at long jail terms should they be found guilty. Detectives have preferred robbery with violence and indecent acts under the Sexual Offences Act which can earn them life imprisonment upon conviction.

Among the exhibits, the DCI has obtained are Obadiah’s motorcycle whose details were captured at the scene, his photo while indecently assaulting the motorist, and a report placing his phone signals at the scene of the crime that day.

The victim, a foreigner working for the UN, was driving from Gigiri to Parklands and on reaching Barabara Tano was involved in an accident with a boda boda rider. Suddenly, a crowd of riders attacked her, accusing her of careless driving.

They sexually molested her and robbed her of her iPhone, valued at Sh130,000.

The investigations then linked Obadiah to the attack through a mobile phone and the video clip captured at the scene.

The detectives recovered further evidence from digital devices which was corroborated by witnesses and the suspect’s wife, relatives and neighbours.

The phone signals indicated his movement that day from the scene to his residence and also his photos which were captured at the scene. He was positively identified by his relatives who also confirmed the clothes he was wearing that day.

“Using digital forensics, the sleuths working with cybercrime experts at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, placed the thug at the scene of the crime scientifically and went after him this afternoon deep in Mukuru Kaiyaba informal settlement,” the DCI said last week.

DCI boss George Kinoti, however, said the suspect managed to escape through a sewer duct in the densely populated settlement.

“The suspect has also been positively identified by his wife and other relatives, sexually assaulting the victim in the widely shared videotape,” the DCI added.

Part of the investigations involved photographic, video and cybercrime analysis.

Accomplices

“Equally, his accomplices who were within the vicinity of the barbaric attack whether captured on the video clip or not, have all been identified forensically,” the DCI said.

Obadia’s friends and relatives however maintained that he could have been caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. The father of two also operated from a parking shed next to Hazina estate where he also sells smokies and boiled eggs.

Obadiah claimed that on a fateful day, he received a request through a mobile app to deliver a parcel to Westlands and that on his way back, he stopped at the accident scene upon noticing a commotion.

The suspect, dressed in a red T-shirt and a dark green half-jacket was captured forcing the door of the victim’s car open and trying to drag her out, with her safety belt still on.

According to the National Crime Research Centre, the most prevalent boda boda offences are causing death by dangerous riding at 79 per cent, stealing (76 per cent), breach of public order and creating a disturbance (66 per cent), robbery with violence (52 per cent) and possession of dangerous drugs (49 per cent).

Latest technology

Other crimes commonly committed by boda bodas are drug trafficking (42 per cent), murder (38 per cent), kidnapping (26 per cent), defilement (17 per cent), cross-border smuggling of goods (15 per cent) and handling stolen property at 12 per cent.

The DCI is now using the latest technology in investigations including a mobile laboratory truck which is usually driven to the scene of a crime carrying different experts.

The vehicle is fitted with special containers for keeping exhibits and samples, a special gadget for detecting metallic objects, electronic gadgets and even blood spatter.

As a result, investigations of serious crimes including terrorism, murder, robbery with violence, cybercrime and rape, among others, is now faster, besides unravelling several cases, some of which had been difficult to crack.