Inmates escape from Eldoret Police Station

By Michael Wesonga

A suspected hard-core criminal was gunned down while four others are on the run after making a daring escape from the Eldoret police station cells at the wee hours of Friday morning.

The escape comes barely a week after they were arrested following the killing of a trader at Soy market and injuring another at Matharu area in Uasin Gishu County.

They had been arraigned at an Eldoret court on Monday November 21 and charged with robbery with violence and were due to appear in court on Friday November 25 over the case.

Among those on the run is a convict who had earlier escaped from Eldoret GK prisons and rearrested last weekend before pleading guilty to a separate charge on Monday November 21.

They were remanded at the police station cells and were to appear for their case on Friday morning.

Uasin Gishu OCPD Paul Kiogora said the criminals are suspected to have used a hacksaw to cut through grills at the police cells.

He said the incident occurred at around 2.30am and other suspects in the cells raised an alarm.

It was at this point, the OCPD said, that an officer manning the report office rushed to the cells but the criminals had already jumped out.

The officer alerted other officers who pursued the suspects and in the process, gunned down one of them, a kilometre away from the police station.

The OCPD said the other four had already vanished into the darkness but police have intensified a manhunt.

"Four of the suspects are still at large but we are very serious and want to make sure that we catch up with them very soon," said Kiogora.

He also appealed to the public to volunteer information that may lead to the re-arrest of the suspects.

On Monday November 21, the suspects faced five counts of robbery with violence, being in possession of an AK 47 assault, a magazine and 12 rounds of live ammunitions without a firearm licence.

They were accused that on November 18, jointly with others not before the court, while armed with an AK 47, they robbed Francis Waithanji of a mobile phone and cash all valued Sh12,000.

They denied all the counts before the Eldoret Principal magistrate David Kemei.

Prosecution had said investigations were still in progress and that some witnesses were expected to record statements after which, the suspects would be subjected to an identification parade.

The parade requested the court to remand the accused persons at the Eldoret police station to facilitate the investigation process and also sort out of some recoveries from the suspects.

Friday’s escape is a setback in the fight against crime in Eldoret town and its environs where two prominent businessmen have been killed in the last three weeks.

Eastern Rift Valley regional commissioner Wanyama Musimabo had said last week that the arrest of the five was a ‘major breakthrough in the fight against crime’.

Hundreds of residents jammed the Eldoret police station on Friday protesting the escape.

The residents said they had expected to see the suspects at the court and wondered why those who escaped were only the hard-core criminals.

A number of those who thronged the station had been anxiously waiting to see the suspects in court before word went round that they had escaped.