Ritual cleansing? Relative held over gouging out of boy’s eyes
A 26-year-old man is being detained over the gouging out of the eyes of a three-year-old boy in Kisii in one of the most bizarre crime incidents reported this month.
Alex Maina Ochogo is suspected to have conspired with his own mother to commit the heinous act, which police believe is linked to ritual cleansing.
The woman is among the persons of interest that the police are looking for. She is believed to have travelled to Nairobi after the crime was committed.
Police are now pursuing various leads into claims that some of the individuals involved in the heinous incident did so in an attempt to cleanse themselves of a more serious crime they had committed some years earlier.
Special education
The Kisii County government has already offered to pay the medical bills for the boy’s treatment, besides pledging to cater for his special education, given that he is unlikely to regain his sight.
Meanwhile, Ochogo, believed to be the boy’s cousin, will be remanded at Rioma Police Station for five days to allow detectives to finalise investigations into the case that has sparked nationwide outrage.
An unkempt Ochogo, a first paternal cousin of Junior Sagini, the survivor of the gory incident, looked calm and composed as if nothing sinister had ever happened in his life when he was presented before Senior Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno yesterday.
He was dressed in an oversize grey sweater, grey shirt and faded black jeans when police presented him in court.
“Preliminary investigation shows that he escorted his mother — who is the main suspect — and he was part of the scheme,” Hillary Kaino, the prosecutor in the case, told the court as he requested the magistrate to detain Ochogo for five days to allow investigators to complete their work.
Kaino said detectives were pursuing other suspects believed to have played a role in the act that has left many across the nation shocked.
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has, for instance, offering a cash reward of Sh400,000 for any officer who will lead to the apprehension of the suspects behind the grisly crime.
“I will also offer a further 200k to anybody who will give information that will lead the police to eliminate this gang of cowards,” Sonko said on Twitter.
Yesterday, Kaino told the magistrate’s court that Ochogo was being held because police believe he escorted his mother to board a bus for Nairobi soon after the incident.
The magistrate said the case had attracted public interest and ordered that Ochogo be detained at Rioma police station. She also ordered the Officer Commanding the Station (OCS) to ensure the safety of the dour-faced suspect.
Ochogo is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for the mention of the case and for Ogweno to give further directions.
Anita Nduhukire and Daphine Ayaki — two lawyers who turned up in court to represent Sagini — promised to ensure that justice is served.
Dumped in farm
Villagers from Ikuruma in Marani, Kisii County, were last week and left in shock after a suspected gang kidnapped Sagini and gouged out his eyes before dumping him on his family’s banana farm.
The gang is said to have taken away the child from his family home on Wednesday last week, and held him for more than six hours, sending the family into panic as relatives searched for the minor in vain.
When they eventually found him, his face was covered in blood and the boy was in pain. Relatives took him to Kisii Eye Hospital but nothing could be done to restore his eyesight.
Sagani was yesterday recuperating in a general ward after undergoing a surgical procedure.
“Both his eyes had been removed completely and there are some injuries in the lids… So it looks like there was a sharp instrument like a knife that was used,” Dr Daniel Kiage, the doctor in charge at the hospital, told People Daily.
Found by sister
A sibling, Shantel Kemunto, found Sagini on Wednesday, a day after he went missing. Kemunto had been sent by her grandmother to fetch water from a nearby stream when she chanced on her missing brother.
According to villagers, Sagini’s mother, Maureen Nyaboke, 28, had been married to Thomas Ongaga.
The couple had two children, Shantel, seven, and Sagini, three.
Maureen left the children with her husband’s family after they differed and she left her matrimonial home. On Sunday, Maureen, who is said to have re-married, was emotional when she visited the hospital to check on her son. She was not in a position to speak to People Daily.
Kisii Governor Simba Arati has condemned the incident and pledged to move Sagini to a new home, support Maureen and ensure their safety.
Kisii County Woman Representative Dorice Aburi said she would liaise with the national government to equip and staff a gender violence rescue centre in the county to support victims of gender and domestic violence.
