Did man rape 300 women in buses using 'dawa'?

     The suspect Dominic Malombe in the dock. PHOTOS: PKEMOI NG'ENOH:  

A man suspected of drugging and raping female passengers in public buses plying the Nairobi-Mombasa route is now in police custody.

Police say Dominic Malombe Nganu, has allegedly been hunting women, drugging and having sex with them either in buses or lodgings. It is further alleged that in some instances, Malombe, who was arrested on October 18 in Nairobi, used unknown powdery stuff which led women to follow him to lodgings.

Back seat ride

An officer attached to Kamukunji Police Station where the 27 year old was being held told The Nairobian that Malombe revealed he has slept with more than 300 women in different buses using what he referred to as ‘remote control’ which he termed as some ‘medicine’ that lures unsuspecting women passengers.

“Malombe told us he had been using charms to control women. They fall asleep or follow him into lodgings. He claimed he would show a woman seated next to him his manhood and they would fall for him,” the officer told The Nairobian.

Malombe was arrested after he was discovered at about midnight along Mombasa Road with a naked and intoxicated 17-year-old girl who was travelling from Mombasa to Nairobi to visit a relative.

The suspect was allegedly discovered in the bus near the General Motors area with the girl sleeping on his laps and her panties on the floor of the bus.

Passengers who were alighting raised the alarm and the crew of the bus restrained Malombe and later handed him to the police. The girl was rushed to a hospital in Eastleigh for treatment.

The teenager later told the police she had boarded the Nairobi-bound bus in Voi and along the way, asked Malombe if he was also alighting around General Motors where she was supposed to be picked by a relative.

Malombe assured her they would all get off and that there was no reason to worry.

 Spiked soda

“When we arrived at Makindu, a number of passengers alighted leaving us alone at the back seat. He (Malombe) asked me if I could spend the night with him in a lodging and go home the following day, but I declined. He alighted and came back with two bottles of soda. I remember opening the soda and taking only three sips. When I woke up at around 3am, I found myself in hospital without my bikers and panties. I could feel pain in my private parts which also had dried blood,” reads part of her police statement.

Medical records seen by The Nairobian reveal that the victim sustained vaginal injuries which could be indicative of rape. One of the passengers claims the girl had not woken up when she raised the alarm. “I was among the first ones to arrive at the back seat and I saw the man’s trouser unzipped and the lady on his laps half naked, her underwear on the floor,” she said.

The girl’s father who works in the city expressed his anger over the incident.

“It is so painful that a man can commit such evil against an innocent girl. In fact she just cleared high school last year. I was not even aware she was travelling from Voi that day, I just received a call that a fellow passenger raped her on the way. I demand justice for my daughter and punishment for the accused to teach these sex pests a lesson.”

Malombe was set free on a Sh100,000 bail after denying the charges. He told the court the complainant had asked him to massage her legs.

His trial begins on February 4 next year.