A multi-agency team on Saturday, April 2, arrested a fugitive boda boda rider who allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted a foreign national after picking her up from a popular club along Lang’ata Road.
According to a statement, the victim and her two female friends, sought the services of three boda boda riders to ferry them to their hotel in the Central Business District (CBD) at about 4.30 am
However, as the other two riders made their way to the CBD, the suspect, took a detour, made a u-turn onto the oncoming lane and headed towards Ongata Rongai.
“But just after they had joined Langata road headed towards the city centre, the victim’s motorbike that was last to leave the parking made a sudden detour and sped towards Bomas of Kenya direction,” read the statement in part.
Unfamiliar with the city, the foreigner only realised something was amiss when the rider joined the road heading to Ongata Rongai – the absence of human activity and the dense vegetation.
She frantically screamed for help as the rider the unbothered rider accelerated . When the rider stopped, it was to her peril, he dragged her into the Ololua forest where he allegedly raped her before abandoning her.
The victim picked up herself and managed to make her way to the Rongai Police Station where she reported the incident.
Upon filing the report detectives from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) and the DCI working in conjunction with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) assembled to track down the suspect who was on the run.
“In a well-coordinated operation that also involved the NTSA the suspect was intercepted in Ngong at around 3 pm, as he attempted to flee the city,” the statement read in part.
The investigating officers combed the crime scene and pieced up evidence. DNA samples will also be collected from Onsongo and will be used as evidence in court.
The Saturday incident comes barely weeks after a diplomat was sexually assaulted on March 4, by a gang of riders in broad daylight causing public outcry.
The main suspect, Zachariah Nyaora Obadia, was later arrested at the Namanga border by a multi-agency team as he tried to flee the country. While 16 riders were released by the court on March 28, Nyaora will face the law.
Following the Forest road incident, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a nationwide crackdown with the aim of streamlining the sector. The Ministry of Interior further announced fresh registration of all boda boda operators countrywide, with the exercise running for two months.
