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Even as the main suspect in the brutal murder of at least 42 women in the Kware area of Embakasi was arrested, a number of questions still remain unanswered especially how the suspect could operate freely for two years undetected.

For two years, Collins Jomaisi Khalusha stayed not very far from the Kware police station. Within the same vicinity, he would commit the very heinous offences unabated and would kill the women and dump the bodies about 150 metres from the police station.

A number of ‘missing persons’ cases were reported at various stations, including Kware police station and Mukuru police post.

Reported matter

The family of Josephine Mulongo Owino had reported the matter, just a day after she went missing, and the report was booked under Occurrence Book (OB) number 7/29/6/2024 at Mukuru police post.

Eight days later, after they failed to get assistance from the local police, they decided to report the matter to the detectives at the Embakasi Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

A probe was launched and it was established that the suspect had used another phone to send Sh400 to Josephine. The sender’s name was captured as Leonard Nyongesa, according to the detectives.

The detectives managed to get the other number the suspect was using and when asked about the whereabouts of Josephine, he denied knowledge and only said the deceased had asked her for Sh800. He then switched off his phone.

Had the police acted in good time she could have been saved.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohammed Amin while parading the key suspect before journalists yesterday, disclosed that Khalusha said he preferred luring beautiful women and that the first woman he killed was his wife.

The DCI disclosed that Khalusha strangled his wife namely Imelda Judith Khalenya to death, dismembered her body and dumped her at the same site.

The DCI could however not explain whether the matter was reported to the police and the status of the investigations. The DCI boss could not also explain whether all the 42 murders that Khalusha is said to have committed were reported to the police and the status of their investigations.

“From our interrogations, all his victims have been murdered in the same style. Our investigations are still ongoing and the suspect’s house and the dumping site will remain active crime scenes,” Amin said.

“Even if family members reported cases of missing persons, the police owe us an explanation on the status of the investigations, the officers who handled the cases,” Khalid Hassan, the executive director of Haki Africa says.

Heinous acts

Questions have also been raised on how such heinous acts continued without the knowledge of the police, the National Government Administration Officers (NGAOs), the police, the Nyumba Kumi and Community Policing members. The locals report that the dumping had been going on for a long time.

Preliminary investigations indicate that families of some of the missing women had reported the matter to the police but the status of such probes indicate that no serious investigations had been conducted.

Whenever a missing person is reported, the first person to record a statement is the person who was last seen with or stays with the person reported missing.

Following the revelation, the DCI immediately set up a joint team that swung into action and yesterday arrested a suspect believed to have been behind the deaths. The Kware site has also been declared an active crime scene.

However, access to the place is not restricted and it is the locals who are involved in the retrieval of the bodies, further contaminating the scene. Other concerns have also been raised about how the National Intelligence Service (NIS) also failed to detect such criminal activities early enough to nip them in the bud.

When he was being vetted in Parliament in May last year, the NIS boss Noordin Haji said his focus will also include the promotion of human intelligence (HUMINT) collection while at the same time promoting tech-based intelligence collection. Humint is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact and derived from information provided by human sources.

Basic human rights

He said: “If appointed, I will ensure that the Service provides accurate, timely, actionable and consumer-specific intelligence briefings and will observe the highest fidelity to the rule and respect the basic human rights,” he said.

In the case of Shakahola, Kilifi County, various security agencies accused each other with the NIS maintaining that they gave timely intelligence and even as the ODPP were able to prosecute some of these cases.

The agency’s main functions are security intelligence and counterintelligence to enhance national security and also support and aid law enforcement agencies in detecting and preventing serious crimes and other threats to national security.

The past cases have raised concerns on how police handle cases of unidentified victims and also how to investigate cases of unidentified bodies and missing persons in the last few years.

On June 27, 2019, for example, a Police Constable attached to Gigiri police station went missing. Even as detectives claimed they were investigating the whereabouts of their colleague, Constable Stephen Kairu, it took the family 19 days of relentless and agonising search before they finally found the body at Thika Level 5 hospital.

Ironically, the body had been taken there by officers from Ruiru police station who booked him at the mortuary as “an unidentified male adult.”

On January 29, the same year, Kasarani Traffic police officers took the body of then Nation Media Group employee Mildred Odira to City Mortuary. At the same time, detectives from the Kasarani DCI, domiciled in the same building, were investigating the whereabouts of Odira.  Six days later, the family found the body at the morgue.

This is despite the fact that there are explicit laid down procedures to be followed when such bodies are found. When police recover such bodies, they should be thorough searched for any documents to identify them.

Fingerprints taken

If nothing is found, the fingerprints should be taken the soonest possible to help in revealing their identity. A detailed report has to be made in the Occurrence Book (OB) including the sex, approximate age and height, dressing, and the general physical appearance.

A brief to the Police headquarters will be written and a signal of circulation of the unknown body sent to other stations across the country. The fingerprints taken are then forwarded to the Registrar of Persons at the NSSF Building and the results are usually released immediately.

At the scene, police are expected to draft a sketch plan and study the scene with a view to establishing whether the injuries observed are consistent with accident injuries or the victim was just murdered elsewhere and the body dumped.

In most cases, however, this has not been the case.