Defilement suspect in hiding as case stalls in Kilifi

John Mathias Kazungu in a Kilifi court in February. [Maureen Ongala, Standard]

Questions surrounding the disappearance of a former protocol officer in the county government include where he could be and whether anyone might be hiding him.

John Mathias Kazungu is a fugitive facing five criminal counts including sexual defilement of a 14-year-old girl and conspiracy to subvert the course of justice through alleged bribery of his victim’s parents.

Mr Kazungu was arrested in February, after months of hiding from the law, and charged in a Kilifi court.

He attended court several times accompanied by his lawyer and even saw his alleged victim testify against him, and was freed on a Sh500,000 bond with two sureties of similar amount.

Local police

But he stopped going to court and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is now accusing local police and detectives involved in the matter of refusing to arrest him thus threatening the future of the trial and search for justice for the victim.

There have been claims that he had gone to Tanzania to evade arrest.

In July, Henry Achochi, the officer in charge of prosecutions in Kilifi, wrote to Kilifi County Criminal Investigations Officer Said Mohamed, saying he was frustrated by the failure to find and arrest Kazungu.

"This is a case of long history where there has been blame on the part of law enforcement agencies for taking sides in arresting and arraigning the accused in court. The prosecution has not been left out of this blame game. Eventually, the accused took plea and the victim gave very incriminating evidence that has seen the accused go into hiding," said Mr Achochi.

The letter was not replied to and Kazungu remains at large, according to Achochi.

Meanwhile, Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki has renewed arrest warrants after the suspect failed to appear in court several times.

Since March, the trial has been postponed no less than 10 times.

When The Standard sought information from police, one officer said she had even used her own money to try and track down the suspect because many of her male colleagues were allegedly reluctant to look for him.

"I talked to the criminal investigations officer and she confessed to finding it difficult to find the accused because she doesn't know him. She is also not the investigating officer and does not find co-operation from the male officers who know the accused," said Achochi, adding that justice would not be served if the trial collapsed.

Last mention

"So it is up to the county criminal investigations officer to order his officers to make the arrest since we have a last mention. In the event we do not present the accused, we will be forced to withdraw the case under Section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code and have the warrant of arrest remain in force. We cannot mention the case forever."

However, Mr Said denied claims that the police were reluctant to arrest the suspect.

"We are looking for him and we will soon find him. We believe he is in Malindi and have laid a trap for him," he said.