Four men charged with defiling missing school girl

Four men implicated in alleged abduction of a schoolgirl who was rescued last week have been charged with defilement.

The four include three students from Kisumu Polytechnic and a pharmacist who had earlier been charged with the abduction of the 14-year-old teenager.

The minor was rescued at a house shared by John Onyango, Albert Bolo and Duke Nyakamba on Thursday night last week with the minor accusing the trio of defiling her several times.

On Tuesday, however, the suspects denied defiling the girl before principal magistrate Hezron Nyaberi at the Winam law courts and were released on a Sh150, 000 bond.

The court heard that the suspects committed the act against the minor on diverse dates between January 5 and January 20 at Arina Estate in Kisumu.

They were charged with two counts each including committing an indecent act with a minor.

Joel Wanda, the pharmacist at St. Elizabeth Chiga Hospital who was charged last week with the abduction of the minor, was dealt a fresh blow when the prosecution preferred fresh charges of defilement against him.

During the course of the proceedings, the family of the minor urged the court not to release the suspects on bond arguing that the offense was serious.

Through their lawyer Benjamin Odhiambo, the family said that the victim was a student.

"Due to the nature of the offense, I request the court not to allow cash bail,” said Odhiambo.

Lawyers Stephen Aoko and Steve Odumbe who represented the suspects, however, asked the magistrate to consider bail terms for the suspects arguing that they were not a flight risk.

Aoko also argued that the suspects were students from poor backgrounds who could not afford high bail terms.

“We are praying that the court grants our clients reasonable bond terms because they are students and may not be able to raise a high amount,” argued Aoko.