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How minor who was abducted in Mukuru slums escaped child labour in Tanzania


A man who kidnapped a 15-year-old schoolboy in Dandora in Nairobi and took him to Tanzania is facing a lengthy sentence after he was found guilty of human trafficking.

Mr Muyesek Musa had been charged with trafficking in persons contrary to section 3 (1) (b) of the counter-trafficking in persons Act of 2010. He was found guilty of having committed the offence by Principal magistrate Lewis Gatheru of Makadara Law Courts.

The convict was charged alongside another suspect, Long’da Melua Loisa, who was acquitted of the charges and released unconditionally.

The offence is punishable by a minimum 30 years’ imprisonment or a fine of Sh30 million and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Mr Musa abducted the minor identified in the trial case as MM on May 12, 2016 and took him to Tanzania where he remained for two years before he returned to Nairobi. Mr Musa was charged in 2018.

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The minor had visited a friend in Mukuru slums and on his way back home, he got lost. He met Mr Musa who offered to help him cross the road and bought him a mandazi then took him to his house where they found Loisa.

The minor told the court during the trial of Mr Musa and Mr Loisa that on the same night, the two men blindfolded and put him in a vehicle together with other people and took him to a village in Tanzania where they lived.

The convict told the complainant that he was his father and his wife the minor’s mother in Tanzania and he was made to look after goats and told the court that he was beaten frequently.

At some point, he fell sick and Mr Musa took him to hospital. A man later suggested to the minor that he should find his way to Nairobi. On one occasion there was a ceremony that Mr Musa and the minor attended during which the minor learnt that Mr Musa was to travel to Nairobi.

When the convict was leaving the village, the minor followed him secretly into a car and secretly travelled to Nairobi.

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He later found his way to Dandora and a good Samaritan took him to Dandora Police Station where the police advised that he be taken to the primary school where he schooled.

At the school, his school mates recognised him and his mother was contacted. She took him to Mbagathi Hospital where he remained for two months undergoing treatment before reporting the incident to the police.

The minor later took the police to the house where he was first held before being taken to Tanzania. Mr Musa and Mr Loisa were later traced and arrested in Thindingua, Kiambu County.

Mr Musa will be sentenced on March 20. Mr Gatheru ordered for a pre-sentencing report which will include a social inquiry of the convict and capture the complainant’s sentiments.

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