• The elder is suspected of preying on children aged between two and five years in his rented house in Amalemba estate.
• Kakamega Central subcounty police boss David Kabena said Friday that the man has been luring the children to his house with freebies.
Police in Kakamega have arrested an elder of a local church over claims of sexually assaulting five children.
The elder is suspected of preying on children aged between two and five years in his rented house in Amalemba estate.
Kakamega Central subcounty police boss David Kabena said Friday that the man has been luring the children to his house with freebies.
Police laid an ambush at his residence after receiving complaints from the public.
"Upon interrogation, the children confirmed to us that the pastor has been sexually molesting them," Kabena said.
Kabena said medical examination reports of the five revealed there was no penetration.
He said the victims however admitted having been touched inappropriately whenever they were at the man's house.
“We are also hunting down another accomplice who works in cahoots with the suspect. The information we have gathered on the ground is that the young man who is at large is the one who is sent to lure the girls to the suspect’s house,” Kabena said.
Kabena said police are also trying to establish whether the suspects are part of a syndicate believed to be behind stealing of children in Kakamega town.
The police boss, however, blamed parents for failing to take care of their children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said some of those who went missing are those who were sent to hawk fast foods in the town.
“We are on the lookout for any underage girls hawking bananas, groundnuts and even vegetables in Kakamega town. We will arrest their parents and have them prosecuted for abdicating their responsibilities as parents,” Kabena said.
He also said that gambling was on the rise during the Covid-19 pandemic as most people are at home.
Two days ago, he said, they set ablaze over 40 gambling machines valued at Sh3.28 million.
Kabena said only the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) is mandated to licence betting firms that engage in legal business.
Business permits from the county governments is not a licence to do such illegal business, he said.
“These lottery joints are a hiding place for criminals and they are the major cause for the high dropout rate of school going children and teenage pregnancies.
“We have also received cases where university and college students lose money meant for paying school fees to gambling,” Kabena said.