State official raped in Naivasha highway night robbery

Police in Naivasha are looking a gang of highway robbers that carjacked a Nairobi-bound matatu and sexually abused a senior government official before robbing other passengers. The thugs took control of a Mololine matatu at around 10pm before driving it in a bushy area on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway where they subjected the passengers the harrowing ordeal.

During the incident, the driver of the matatu escaped with knife wounds after the gangsters stabbed him as they tried to take control of the vehicle. Posing as passengers, the thugs had boarded the matatu in Nakuru. A passenger who declined to be named said that at one time, the two asked the driver to stop at a lonely section of the road to relieve themselves but the driver declined. “They later relieved themselves in Naivasha town but on reaching Kinungi, they took control of the vehicle and drove it into the bushes,” he said. He said the senior officer was raped by the two thugs who later made away with their personal effects and cash.

Naivasha OCPD Ernest Oponyo said they were following some leads and accused the driver of colluding with the thugs. “All the matatus heading from Nakuru at night are supposed to pass through a police station for search but many drivers are not doing this,'' he said. He called on matatu operators to record personal details of their passengers mainly at night to avoid cases of carjackings. The police boss added that it had emerged that there was collusion between drivers and thugs in majority of carjacking cases mainly involving lorries carrying goods. “We have intensified patrols along the highway and we call on members of the public and matatu operators to work with us,” he said.