Serial paedophile suspect in court for child trafficking
By People Reporter, May 27, 2020Alphonce Mung’ahu
A German suspected to be a serial paedophile yesterday appeared in a Nairobi court accused of child trafficking, defilement and child pornography.
Thomas Scheller, 71, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of child trafficking, defilement and pornography.
He also faced another count of being unlawfully present in Kenya.
According to a detective, Lawrence Okoth, the suspect has been on security radar in relation to several child pornography cases in Kwale county and its environs.
He has pending cases on defilement in Mombasa and Nairobi courts.
Okoth told the court that cyber intelligence had revealed that he shared child pornographic materials to a registered sexual offender in Germany.
Milimani Senior Resident Magistrate Caroline Muthoni ordered Scheller, who has been in police custody since May 5, to remain in custody until June 19, when she will issue further directions.
The prosecution led by Winnie Moraa opposed a bail plea by the accused, saying he was a flight risk as he had no document indicating his place of residence in the country.
Charges against the accused stated that on March 29, 2020 at Nyalenda, Kisumu Central sub-county, Kisumu county, he unlawfully recruited, transported and harboured a 13-year-old boy for the purpose of exploitation.
He is also said to have defiled the same boy. Scheller is also accused of committing an indecent act with a child, contrary to Section 11(1)) of the Sexual Offences Act No.3 of 2006.
The prosecution further alleges that between March, 2020 and May 2020 at Nyalenda, Kisumu, and Ngara, Starehe, Nairobi county, he unlawfully and intentionally exposed a child aged 13 to indecent audio visuals.
Detain suspect
On May 5, 2020 the court allowed police 21 more days to continue detaining the accused after he was arrested for being illegally in the country.
This followed an application by Okoth, attached to DCI’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU) that the suspect was arrested on May 4, 2020 and they needed more time to complete investigations.
Okoth had told the court through the prosecutor that he was involved in investigations of child trafficking, defilement and child pornography cases against the suspect.
The officer told the court that the suspect was arrested on May 4, 2020 by the DCI officers from AHTCPU outside the German Embassy,Nairobi together with a Kenyan minor who was rescued and was suspected to be a victim of child trafficking and defilement.
The victim is a pupil at Ngara Primary School in Kisumu.
Okoth told the court that the suspect led the officers to a lodging house in Ngara, Nairobi county, where he had been staying with the victim since April 30, 2020 until May 4, 2020.
“Despite the partial lockdown in the country the suspect managed to travel with the 13-year-old victim all the way from Kisumu to Nairobi where he was nabbed,” said the detective.