Police question woman over ‘fake abduction’

Police in Homa Bay County grilled a woman who alleged she had been kidnapped, after preliminary investigation showed her account of the incident did not add up.

The woman, 33, and a mother of three, was reported missing on Thursday at Oyugis police station shortly after she withdrew Sh70,000 she had been sent by her husband.

The man, who recorded a statement with the police over his wife’s disappearance, said she had left their Mawego home shortly after 10am that same day.

“She was to withdraw the money, which we were to use to purchase a piece of land at Chabera,” the man told The Standard.

Dire consequences

The woman did not return home. Later she told her husband she had been abducted and taken to an unknown place by people she could not identify.

The husband, a college tutor, produced more than 50 messages sent through his wife’s phone number.

The messages threatened him with dire consequences should he fail to part with a ransom of Sh150,000.

A police search ended on Sunday afternoon, with the woman said to have been found near a church within Karachuonyo area.

Officers continued to turn the heat on her yesterday, saying preliminary information given in her statement did not add up.

For example, she claimed she had been beaten by six people who had abducted her. She said they forced her to spend days and nights on the floor without food for the entire period.

But police said a doctor’s examination showed she had no physical injuries.

Clean woman

“She was clean and she even spoke normally, as opposed to someone who has been in distress for three days. We think there is more to this,” said Esther Seroney, the county’s police boss.