(Nairobi) Five police officers appeared in court in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Wednesday, the day after they were taken into custody for their possible complicity in the escape of a suspected serial killer, who is still being sought, an AFP journalist noted.
Suspected of the murder of dozens of women, Collins Jumaisi, 33, escaped from a police station on the night of Monday to Tuesday with 12 other people, Eritreans in an irregular situation.
He was arrested on July 15, a few days after the discovery of bodies stuffed in bags in a dump in the Mukuru slum, in the south of Nairobi.
According to authorities, who described him as a “psychopathic serial killer” and a “vampire,” he confessed to committing 42 murders of women between 2022, the first being that of his wife, and July 2024.
PHOTO SIMON MAINA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Collins Jumaisi is suspected of murdering dozens of women.
The court will give its decision on Thursday on the continued detention of the five police officers, four men and one woman who were on duty at the police station at the time of the escape.
Three other people were taken into custody on Tuesday, but no information was available on whether they would appear in court.
During the hearing, the prosecutor said that other accomplices were still at large, without giving further details.
Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was facilitated by accomplices, given that officers [de police] were deployed in large numbers to guard the police station.
Acting Police Chief Gilbert Masengeli said in a statement:
The escape was discovered Tuesday morning during “a routine cell visit around 5 a.m.” […] to serve breakfast,” according to a police report seen by AFP.
“When they opened the cell door, they [les policiers] discovered that 13 prisoners had escaped by cutting through a metal fence” of a walking area, he explains.
This is the second time in less than six months that a suspect in a major case has escaped from custody.
In February, a Kenyan man awaiting extradition to the United States, where he is accused of killing his girlfriend, escaped from a Nairobi police station, leaving the building on foot. He was recaptured six days later.
Collins Jumaisi appeared before a Nairobi court on Friday, which extended his detention pending the conclusion of the investigation. His lawyer claims he was “molested and tortured” during his interrogations.
According to the National Human Rights Commission (KNHCR), the mutilated bodies of 10 women were found in bags at the Mukuru dumpsite.
The police have been heavily criticised because the dump is located less than 100 metres from a police station.
The KNCHR said it was investigating to “rule out any possibility of extrajudicial killings.”
The police watchdog (IPOA) also announced it was investigating “to determine whether the police were involved in these deaths, or whether they failed to act to prevent them”.