Help us find our missing young son

Sarah Wanja and her husband Joseph Karuri look at a portrait picture of their son Lee Kariuki who went missing on August 16. The family has been searching for the boy without success. (PHOTO: MERCY KAHENDA/ STANDARD)

On August 16, Sarah Wanja left her four-year-old boy, Lee Kariuki, in the company of his older siblings at their home in Maili Sita village, Nakuru County.

The mother of seven says she was going away to sell second-hand clothes and had left the little boy having a meal with his older siblings.

“I was taking some clothes to my clients, approximately three kilometres away, and when I left, my children were all fine. You can imagine my shock when I came back and Lee was nowhere to be found,” she said.

Wanja came back home at around 7pm and met with her first born son at the roadside. The boy was crying and he informed his mother that they left to work on the farm, after finishing their meal, and did not find Lee once they returned home.

Her immediate thought was that the small boy may have decided to visit his grandmother, her mother, who lives some three kilometres from their home.

“My mother however, told me she had not seen Lee and I immediately started searching for him in our neighbours’ houses, farms and in trading centres. He was nowhere to be seen,” she said.

While searching for her child, Wanja spoke to her immediate neighbour - whose son was playing with Lee just before he disappeared. She said she last saw the missing boy at around 1pm when she asked her son to come home for lunch.

“My neighbour told me she called her son home for lunch and my son accompanied him but he was not allowed to go past the gate. She says she asked Lee to get into her compound but I do not understand how he was meant to do that seeing as she did not open the gate for him,” Wanja said.

Lee’s disappearance, she said, has rendered the home silent since there is no longer someone to ask the parents numerous questions upon their return back home.

The boy’s father, Joseph Karuri says the incident has rendered his family restless as they spend sleepless nights searching for him.

Karuri also described Lee as a jovial child who was also loving and caring, a boy who behaved older than his years and called himself ‘Mr Kariuki’. A close companion who would accompany him when he went shopping and who ensured he receive a cold glass of water after getting back home in the evening.

“Lee was also very courageous. Whenever his mother and I disagreed, he would speak to both us - telling us to stop arguing. His loss has affected me greatly. Whenever I think of going to work, I turn back and instead find myself going to various trading centers in the hope that I may find him there,” Karuri said.

The boy’s disappearance has been reported to Kiugo police in Bahati station - OB number 02/17/08/2016. Officers at the station, led by former Bahati OCPD Duncan Nguthu, commenced investigations and later handed over to criminal investigation department for further investigations.

Karuri believes his child might have been kidnapped by strangers while playing at the homestead.

“Lee was not one to follow people after being warned severally both at home and school not to talk to strangers or get into a car whose owner he does not know,” Karuri said.

Despite the days gone by without word of Lee’s whereabouts, Karuri remains hopeful that his child will someday come back home.

“Roho hijakubali mtoto amekufa, maiti ingekuwa ishapatikana (my heart has not accepted that my child is dead, her remains would have already been found),” he said.

The family has intensified the search for their last born child to hospitals and children’s home. Anyone with information on Lee’s whereabouts can get intouch with us via [email protected]