Parents of abducted child hopeful they’ll see her again

By KEN-ARTHUR WEKESA

She left her parents’ house in the afternoon to join other children in the neighbourhood to play. Even as evening drew close there was no reason to worry about her whereabouts; she had always played with her friends until dusk.

But when darkness fell and the jolly little lass had not returned home, it dawned on her parents that something could be wrong.

This is the sad story of baby Tania Omondi Margaret’s mysterious disappearance from Umoja Innercore estate on the fateful day of November 21, last year.

Seven months after the most excruciating moment in their lifetime, Guytan and Beatrice Omondi, the parents of the four-year-old girl, are still hoping against hope that someday, their only daughter will return and transform their tears of sorrow into that of endless pearls of joy.

“I have not the slightest shred of doubt that my little Tania is alive and in good health, I will faint not until she returns home,” Guytan, 43, told The Standard On Saturday, recounting the untold ordeal they have been forced to go through since last year.

Went missing

On the night of the day she mysteriously went missing, Tania’s parents received disturbing text messages from her captors who warned of grave consequences should they fail to give them a staggering Sh2 million in exchange for the little priceless life.

The captors consequently warned the couple against involving the police over the issue if they loved Tania. Another demand by the ‘smart’ captors, who strictly communicated through texts using different lines and handsets, was to have the ransom sent in batches of Sh280,000 for consecutive days until the entire sum is settled.

Guytan says he sent Sh150,000 a day after the ordeal and told the captors he couldn’t afford the Sh2,000,000 they were demanding. “They then demanded additional Sh500,000 before they release my daughter for Christmas and we complied,” says distressed father.

The optimism of the Omondis that finally their flesh and blood will return having the demands of the captors, was then thwarted 24 hours later as the captors went under only to resurface with fresh demands for more money.

“The contact said other accomplices had become uncooperative and wanted an additional Sh300,000,” Guytan said.

The police then took over the subsequent negotiations for ransom posing as Tania’s parents when they got a promising lead. They demanded proof of Tania’s life before releasing more cash and remarkably the captors complied by sending a photo of Tania which was discovered to have been taken on November 19, two days before her disappearance leading them to believe the culprits were near.

Still disguising themselves as the child’s parents, the cops demanded for a more ‘clear’ photo and the captors interestingly complied again but with a condition which was to later be used against them — they said they will send another photo but with an edited background due to security concerns.

With every reason to believe the suspects were within vicinity, the cops closed in on the neighborhood.  “During the raid, at one of the suspects house in Umoja Innercore we recovered hard cash – over Sh400,000, a lap top with the image of the missing girl and another with a background being edited,” Nyale Munga, a flying squad officer who led the raid, said.

The officer is optimistic that they will bring the case to its logically conclusion saying the suspects will eventually disclose the whereabouts of the missing girl.

The suspects were arraigned in court and the case is still going on. Guytan who admits he was overtly shocked with the chilling revelations that the suspects are persons well known to him, notes that hundreds of parents whose children have gone missing have been encouraging him to take heart since some have had their children back albeit after a long time.

Clutching on straw

This is the straw Tania’s father is momentarily clutching on. The distraught father consequently plans to form an initiative that will bring together parents who have undergone such cruel ordeals so as to save other parents the very pain by working as crusaders against child kidnappers.