Gangsters defile police officer's three daughters

Thugs struck at a police officer's home in Lugari and gang-raped his three daughters.

The victims, aged between 12 and 16, were treated at Turbo health centre. The officer was not home when the incident happened.

This came hot on the heels of a similar incident in which thugs armed with crude weapons gang-raped a woman as her husband watched in Matungu sub-county.

Kakamega police co-ordinator Paul Kerich said they were investigating the matter to establish whether there was an organised gang out to terrorise residents given the similarity of the two incidents.

"We cannot rule out the possibility of criminals travelling far and wide to unleash terror on people but up to now the matter is being treated as isolated cases," Mr Kerich told The Standard on phone Wednesday.

According to him, the manner in which the attacks were executed raises questions.

"It is possible the attackers in Lugari knew the man was not home long before the attack. The family only reported the incident several hours later," he said.

Kerich added that night security patrols had been intensified to address insecurity.

"We ask residents to volunteer information that will help us flush out criminals from their hideouts," he said.

Narrating the seven-hour ordeal, the officer's wife said the attackers walked in at around 8pm and demanded her husband's firearm, uniform and money that had been sent to her.

"The thugs told me they knew my husband was a police officer working with Kenya Wildlife Service and that I should not waste time producing what they were demanding," said the mother of five.

At first they ordered her son to lie down and tied his hands before forcing her to take them to the bedroom and produce the items.

"They allowed me to carry my baby with me while another one led the girls to the adjacent room," she said.

The attackers got agitated when she told them the items and cash were not available. The thugs split into groups with one going into the kitchen to prepare a meal, which he ate with his accomplices before leaving, as the others ransacked the house.