Brighton Ian accidentally dropped his uncle's radio set and feared he had damaged it.
When his uncle asked him about it, he insisted it was not the radio set that had dropped but a cup. When his uncle persisted in asking with a sterner voice, he ran away. This was on September 7.
Over a month now, the nine-year-old has been missing and his family is on a restless search. Ian lived with his family in NCPB area in Garissa county. They do not have any other relatives there.
His mother Rosemary Otieno said Ian did not have any friend around that they know of. He is a PP2 pupil at Najah Primary School.
"He had thought that his uncle wanted to cane him. So when he noted his uncle's voice had changed, he got scared and ran," Rosemary told the Star on Wednesday.
So where did he run to? Besides the self-blame that has strained the family, Rosemary said they are fatigued by the efforts to trace the firstborn of three children.
The fact that they do not have a relative in the area nor know of Ian's friends is a real scare, she said, because they do not know how to do the search.
"We have tried to walk around asking for him but it is still hard because it is guesswork," the mother said.
"Sometimes we hear he was seen at Madogo, but the area is quite vast. You don't know where to start and who to ask."
She said she suspects the boy keeps moving whenever he hears the parents are looking for him.
"It appears to me that he keeps running away whenever he suspects we are about to reach him wherever he is. Did someone bewitch him?" she asked.
They have made a report at Madogo police station under OB number 44/08/09/2020 as well as Garissa District police station under OB number 23/22/09/2020. Not much has come from the police.
