- James Ong’ondo, 51, is a senior principal magistrate at Kehancha law courts, Migori county.
- A manager at hotel where Ong'ondo booked a room called police after seeing him with a minor.
Image: THE STAR
Police have arrested a Migori-based magistrate who was found in a lodging with a 17-year-old girl in Kaplong, Sotik in Bomet county.
Kehancha senior principal magistrate James Ong’ondo was arrested at a lodging where he had booked a room.
According to police report, a manager at the restaurant called the station to report that he had seen an older man get into a room with an underage girl.
The manager told police that on March 31 at around 9pm, a male customer (Ong’ondo) booked a room and left the keys to the said room at the counter as he continued to take drinks at the bar.
Later at around 11pm the manager noticed that the customer headed to the room in company of a female who appeared to be under 18 years prompting him to alert the authorities.
“The police went to the said lodging. On arrival, they found the suspect, Ong’ondo, inside his Lexus motor vehicle at the parking yard together with a girl who was established to be 17-years-old,” read part of the police report.
Police visited the scene where they recovered a stained bedsheet and toilet paper in the room. The suspect and victim were taken to Kapkatet hospital for medical examination.
The magistrate is currently being held at Sotik police station pending arraignment in court.
Ong’ondo has handled high profile cases in the past including murder, robbery with violence and sexual offences cases.
He was the magistrate handling the murder case of Star Newspaper journalist Erick Oloo in 2019.
Oloo’s body was found inside a senior chief inspector’s house after he was suspected to have been murdered. An autopsy conducted on Oloo’s body showed he died from trauma caused by injury to his head and abdomen.
Joel Ogolla Luta was later sentenced to 35 years in prison after being found guilty of Oloo's murder.
In 2017, the magistrate sentenced Benson Oudia to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of defiling a girl aged 11 years.
The complainant told the magistrate that Oudia, who was a family friend, sent him to get a paper bag from his house to carry groundnuts but once the minor entered the his house, Oudia followed her and closed the door behind him before defiling her repeatedly.
Ong’ondo was a magistrate at the Kakamega law court, a Principal magistrate at Siaya law courts before he was transferred to Kehancha in Migori county.