The Directorate of Children Services (DCS) in Samburu County has appealed to parents to be extra vigilant with their children during the ongoing school holiday to safeguard them against sexual predators.
This comes after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested a German national over the weekend over allegations of sodomising multiple boys in Maralal town and its’ environs.
Acting County Coordinator of Children Services in Samburu, Peter Mwangi said that the German national Ulrich Karl-hein Flesch was nabbed by DCI at Yare village in Maralal town on Sunday after a month-long investigation which linked him to paedophilia activities in the region.
“The suspect has been living in Maralal for an unknown period of time while targeting young boys by luring them with sweets, food stuffs and promises of scholarships before sexually exploiting them, but the matter is under investigation by the DCI,” he said.
Mwangi confirmed that eight boys aged between 12 and 17 years old, who have been victims of exploitation for a while, are safely in police custody and are assisting the DCI and the DCS with further investigations.
“While the minors are assisting with further investigations, we are offering them psychosocial support to ensure they come out of the trauma they experienced at the hands of the suspect. We also urge the society and the family of the victims to give them moral support and avoid stigmatising them,” Mwangi said.
Flesch was on Monday arraigned in a Maralal court after detectives raided his one-bedroom residence in Yare village and seized electronic devices, documents and other exhibits linked to illegal activities.
Preliminary investigations by the DCI revealed that the suspect filmed himself while sodomising the minors and sent the materials abroad.
The court also heard that the suspect has pending cases in two different courts in the country.
Maralal Principal Magistrate Victor Asiyo directed that the suspect be held at the Maralal police station until December 9th to allow the prosecution to conclude their investigations.
The detectives are also in possession of the suspect’s mobile phone, two laptops, a Safaricom WiFi router and three ScanDisc storage devices.
By Robert Githu
