A team of detectives have arrested a prime suspect in the brutal murder of a 13-year-l Lindah Cherono in Moi’s Bridge town along the Eldoret-Kitale highway.
The suspect, whose identity the sleuth declined to reveal, was arrested from his hide-out after a CCTV footage showed the last moments of the missing girl who was due to join form one walking with him from a business premise in the cosmopolitan town.
Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Ayub Gitonga confirmed the arrest of the suspect whom he said was helping them with investigations.
‘It is true we have arrested the prime suspect who is now in police custody over the killing of the girl who went missing four days ago only to be found dead on Tuesday with her two eyes gouged out,” said Gitonga who was speaking to Mwanahabari.co.ke in his office today
Gitonga declined to reveal where the suspect was being held over his safety.
According to Gitonga, the CCTV captured the suspect walking hand in hand with the girl as they left a business premise on the fateful day she was reported missing by her relatives.
He said that police officers leading the investigations are yet to recover the weapons the perpetrators of the heinous acts used to end the life of the girl.
Cherono went missing on Saturday after she left home to go and plait her hair at a salon in town. Her body was later found dumped in a thicket in the outskirts of the town four days later.
Cherono had come to visit her aunt in Moi’s Bridge town as she waited to join form one after sitting her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam in
2020.
There was tension at the township on Tuesday as angry residents blocked the local police station with boulders and logs forcing the officers to throw tear gas at the crowd in their efforts to open up the closed highway to allow free movements of goods and services.
Transport along the highway was closed for seven hours as motorists were forced to look for alternative routes to reach their respective destinations amid running battles between rowdy youths and police officers.