By DCI
A remandee escaped from police custody on Wednesday morning, after being escorted outside the cell at Industrial Area police station to take a bath.
In the 5am incident that left officers at the station perplexed, the remandee escaped after being allowed to take a shower as the officer who was guarding him attended to other duties.
The prisoner, 19-year-old Erickson Khata, had been arrested and arraigned at Makadara law courts on July 19, 2022, for the offence of defilement contrary to section 8 of the sexual offences act.
Earlier that morning, Khata had requested to be allowed to take a bath and an officer manning the report office had escorted him to fetch water and take his bath.
But no sooner had the officer given the prisoner some privacy than the 19-year-old escaped in his inner-wear leaving the rest his clothes behind.
The officer became suspicious that all was not well when the pitter-patter of splashing water suddenly stopped, followed by an eerie silence.
When he went to check, he was confronted by a half-full basin of lathered water, a piece of kipande soap and the prisoner’s clothes. The remandee was nowhere to be seen.
Khata had been remanded at the Nairobi remand allocation maximum security prison, when he complained that he was a minor and taken back to court where an order was issued for assessment of his age.
On July 26, he was escorted to Mbagathi hospital where the relevant tests were conducted and his apparent age ascertained to be 19 years. The matter was to be mentioned in court on the day of his mysterious disappearance.
A manhunt for the suspect is currently underway.
