Kenyan police launched a major manhunt on Tuesday after a man they claim has confessed to murdering and dismembering 42 women escaped from a Nairobi police cell, along with a dozen other detainees.
Collins Jumaisi, 33, described by police as a “vampire, a psychopath”, was arrested last month after the horrific discovery of mutilated bodies in a garbage dump in a slum in the Kenyan capital.
“Investigations have been launched and a major security operation is under way to get the 13 suspects,” Kenya police spokeswoman Resila Onyango told AFP.
Police said in a separate statement that they discovered the breakout when officers made a routine visit to the police station cells at around 5 am to serve the prisoners breakfast.
“On opening the cell door, they discovered that 13 prisoners had escaped by cutting the wire mesh in the basking bay,” it said, referring to an area in the station where detainees could get access to fresh air.
Those who fled were Jumaisi and 12 other people that police said were of Eritrean origin and were in custody for being “illegally present immigrants”.
The police station is located in the upmarket Nairobi district of Gigiri, home to the regional headquarters of the United Nations and numerous embassies.
It is the second time in barely six months that a suspect in a high-profile case has escaped from custody.
Kenyan national Kevin Kangethe, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend in the United States last year and leaving her body in an airport car park, fled a police station in February before being caught about a week later.
Police under spotlight
Jumaisi appeared in court in Kenya’s capital on Friday, and the magistrate ordered that he be kept for another 30 days to allow police to complete their investigations.
Last month, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported that ten slaughtered female remains trussed up in plastic bags were discovered in the dumpsite of an abandoned quarry in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru.
The terrible discovery horrified Kenyans, who were already grieving from the so-called Shakahola woodland massacre, which found more than 400 victims in mass graves near the Indian Ocean coast.
A Kenyan cult leader is accused of pushing his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus” at the end of the world. He faces multiple counts, including terrorism, murder, and child maltreatment, along with dozens of other accused.
Jumaisi was arrested in the early hours of July 15 at a Nairobi bar where he had been watching the Euro 2024 football final.
Mohamed Amin, the chief of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, stated following Jumaisi’s arrest that he had confessed to murdering 42 women during a two-year period beginning in 2022, with his wife being his first victim.
“We are dealing with a vampire, a psychopath,” Amin stated at the time.
The abandoned bodies cast a new light on Kenya’s police force, as they were discovered only 100 metres (yards) from a police station.
The state-funded KNCHR announced in July that it was conducting its own inquiry into the Mukuru case because “there is a need to rule out any possibility of extrajudicial killings”.
Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, said it was investigating whether there was any police participation or a “failure to act to prevent” the killings.
Rights groups frequently accuse Kenyan police of carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, although few have been prosecuted.