Student gets eight years for kidnapping three-year-old
Form Four student has been jailed for eight years for kidnapping a three-year-old boy in Samburu County.
The student, 19, was convicted by Maralal Resident Magistrate Abraham Gachie on Friday after he admitted the offence.
He was arrested in Nanyuki town by Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers six days after he snatched the boy at Changaa estate.
The prosecution had earlier told the court that the teenager, a relative of the child’s mother, demanded a ransom of Sh170,000 and gave a five-day deadline for payment or he would harm the boy.
He gave the boy his phone to speak to the mother, assuring her he was taking good care of him.
ABDUCTION
The teenager kidnapped the boy when his mother, Ms Joy Lekimaina, was away. She said she was told of the abduction by her house help.
“I was told that my son had gone missing while playing with other children within our compound. For a week, I have been living in agony,” she told the Daily Nation, adding that the suspect started calling her a day after her son disappeared, demanding ransom and threatening to kill him if she failed to abide by the directive.
She said she had sent the suspect a total of Sh2,500 before he was arrested. In mitigation the accused said, he did not injure the boy and pleaded with the court to pardon him so that he can sit for this year’s national examinations that are due.
When the magistrate asked why he was kidnapping the child, he said he was just joking. He was allowed a 14 days window period to appeal the sentence.