Police in Kithimani, Yatta Constituency are holding a chief who is believed to have helped a criminal escape after physically abusing a standard eight child.
The chief, James Kitheka Mwasi of Kithini Location is said to have helped one, Mutisya Ngumo escape when the police were notified on the incident and started looking for him.
According to the Plan International Children rescue department executive Teresia Kimani, the boy had done his first papers on the day of the KCPE exams. Once he returned home, his parents sent him out to the fields to drive the cattle which were grazing home.
He is said to have directed the cattle unwillingly to the escapee’s farm where on seeing the incident, Ngumo came out with a panga and cut off both his hands.
The child called for help, according to Kimani, and the villagers came out angered by the incident. The mob broke Ngumo’s hands and escorted him to the chief’s camp where the chief offered to take him to the police station but later released him.
The residents collectively took a report to the Kithimani police station where the chief was summoned, and after interrogation, was found to have helped the culprit escape leaving the boy’s parents crying for justice.
Plan International however took the boy to Kenyatta hospital where he was admitted for two months and discharged with a medical bill of Sh 800,000 which was cleared by organisation earlier this month.
Following the incident, area police boss Nicholas Kasyoki has said that the police are in search of the man and they would not relent until they found him. He said they will arraign him in court once he is apprehended.