The body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing four days ago was today found with her two eyes gouged out in Moi’s Bridgetown along the Eldoret-Kitale highway.
The body of Linda Cherono who was due to join Form One was retrieved from a thicket following a frantic search by her relatives since Saturday evening when she went missing.
Cherono had gone to a saloon in the town alone to plait her hair, but did not come back in the evening raising alarm among her relatives who began a frantic search in the nearby villages.
The girl who hails from Baringo County had visited her relatives in Moi’s Bridge town as she waited to join Form One after sitting her 2020 KCPE exams.
Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Ayub Gitonga who confirmed the incident, said that police have begun investigations surrounding the brutal killing of the girl.
He asked the residents of the township which has been on the spotlight over increased cases of murder targeting young girls, to be patient as the police conduct probe into the murder.
“I know it is painful to the parents, relatives and friends of the girl, but I urge you to leave the police do their work so that they can bring to book perpetrators of the heinous act,” said Gitonga.
today to protest the brutal killing of a 13 year old girl whom went
missing four days ago. Photo/Mwanahabari.co.ke
This was after hundreds of residents barricaded the Eldoret-Kitale highway to protest against police laxity in cracking down perpetrators of the brutal killings that have been happening in the area for the last three years.
There was tension at the township 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.
In December last year, a 14-year-old girl was murdered in Moi’s Bridge town in what was suspected to be a ritual killing.
The mutilated body of the girl was discovered in a sack dumped at Baharani forest in the outskirt of the cosmopolitan town which is situated along the border of Uasin Gishu and Kakamega counties.
In October 2019, the town was thrown into mourning after a 21-year-old Emmah Wanyota, a student at Eldoret Vera beauty college was brutally murdered at her home.
The prime suspect in the murder, Mustafa Idd Lokono, 31, was arrested by officers attacked to directorate of criminal investigations after a two day hunt.
He was allegedly found in possession of the slain lady’s laptop and phone which are being used as exhibits against him in the murder case at the Eldoret High Court.
The suspect is alleged to have hit Emmah with a blunt object on the head before raping, and chopping off her legs.
Emmah is said to have rejected the suspect’s sexual advances sparking his rage.
The suspect is said to have bragged about killing two women on his Facebook page which has since been deleted.
He was charged in Eldoret High Court for murder and detained at the Eldoret GK prison pending the hearing and determination of his case after he was denied bond on security ground.