Police and prison authorities in Malindi are now embroiled in a bitter blame game following the escape of four murder suspects from the underground cells at the Malindi Law Courts.
Police and prison authorities have unsuccessfully tried to hush up the jail-break as they trade blames over who was in charge of the suspects at the time of their escape.
And a court official has blamed Monday's escape on alleged poor construction of the underground cell.
During the Monday incident, nine suspects escaped, including the four who were facing murder charges and were due for sentencing. Reports show the four murder suspects have been on trial for more than four years and never secured bail.
Two suspects captured
"There is another officer handling the matter," was all Malindi OCPD Kiprono Langat told The Standard when contacted over the identities of the escapees.
Kilifi Prisons boss Hassan Tari, who has confirmed the incident, told The Standard that the matter is being investigated by police "because the remandees escaped from police custody".
He said although the suspects are normally held in prisons during trials, they are transported to courts by police.
"It is the work of police to transport remandees into and out of courts," Tari said yesterday, adding that he had received reports that two of the murder suspects had been recaptured.
We could not, however, independently confirm the claims.
The Standard learnt that one of the suspects (not the one on murder charges) was captured by a resident when he strayed into his compound and was taken to a police station, where he was booked for trespass.
According to sources, the nine remandees were transported from Malindi GK Prison to the law court for the hearing of their cases on Monday and placed in the underground cells to wait for their files to be called up.
The underground cells are heavily secured with a heavy metallic door and are usually guarded by armed officers, and reports show the suspects escaped through the cell's roof after pulling its metallic grills apart.
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