Police in Kitengela, Kajiado County have arrested a 27-year-old boda boda rider in connection with the abduction and brutal murder of an eight year old girl, Shantel Nzembi.
The suspect, Livingston Makacha Otengo, was arrested at the Kitengela Bus stop after he was found in possession of a mobile phone used to call the victim’s mother to ask for a Sh300, 000 ransom.
County Criminal Investigations Officer, Isaac Meme, said the rider was being interrogated and they were pursuing the prime suspect, a woman who is believed to be part of the gang that abducted the girl.
“We have arrested one suspect, a boda boda rider who was in possession of a phone used to call the deceased’s mother to demand for ransom. We are following up on crucial leads on his accomplices,” said Meme.
Shantel Nzembi, a grade two pupil, went missing on Sunday May 30, after leaving her home in Kitengela town to go play with a neighbor’s friend only identified as Sharon.
Her mother Christine Ngina, said she got worried when she did not return early and went looking for her at Sharon’s house only to be told Sharon was away visiting a relative.
Ngina started looking for her daughter everywhere to no avail. She would then receive a call from a private number from a lady asking her to send Sh300, 000 for the release of her daughter.
“The woman on the phone told me that she had my daughter. She kept on referring to me as Mama Sharon though I told her my daughter was called Shantel. She said that if I wanted to see her alive, I should pay Sh300, 000,” said Ngina.
Ngina said she reported the incident to the police only for her daughter’s body to be recovered the next day inside a gunny bag at Orata area, Noonkopir.
Police, meanwhile are pursuing leads to establish whether the abductors took the wrong girl as the caller kept referring to Shantel’s mother as ‘Mama Sharon.’
Sharon’s mother is a police officer while Shantel’s parents work as casual laborers at the Export Processing Zone.
By Rop Janet
