Joel Wanda, the main suspect in the disappearance of 14-year-old Gladys Chepkoech who went missing on her way to school in Trans Nzoia county has been charged.
Wanda, a pharmacist at St Elizabeth Hospital in Chiga, Kisumu County, has been accused of abducting the minor at the Kisumu Central Bus Park, on January 5.
The girl reportedly left her home in Chiga for her aunt's home in Kitale before reporting to school at AIC Kipkeikei, but never reached Kitale or returned home. She has not been located to date.
“She left home at around mid-day and we expected her to reach her aunt’s home in Kitale that evening," her father Joseph Ochieng' told the media earlier.
The court heard that the suspect was the last person to be seen with the minor, with the of prosecution claiming that he booked her into a lodging in Kisumu.
However, he denied the charges before Winam Senior Resident Magistrate Fatuma Rashid, and was released on a Sh100,000 bond.
This was despite his lawyer Benjamin Odhiambo's pleas with the magistrate to release him on a cash bail, on grounds that the girl is still missing.
Investigations indicate that the pharmacist had been in contact with the girl since their first encounter, and the two had been in communication through the family phone.
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001356387/questions-as-schoolgirl-goes-missing-in-kisumu