This archive report was first published on 28 June 2021.
Published on June 28, 2021, a spate of missing children cases in Nairobi estates has left parents in fear for their children's safety.
At least nine cases of teen and pre-teen girls being either abducted or killed have been reported in the same area of Moi's Bridge, Uasin Gishu County, in under two years.
One of the recent cases involved 13-year-old Linda Cherono, who was found dead on June 14 with her body mutilated days after she was reported missing.
Her family cried for justice at her burial in Eldama Ravine on Sunday, June 27, even as leaders and security officials sought to assure residents that they would go after the perpetrators behind the heinous acts.
Parents in Syokimau have become more cautious after a school-going child was abducted by kidnappers in May, with some even searching for transportation to take their children from home to schools within the neighbourhood in a bid to keep them safe.
"The child was walking to school here in Syokimau, he was lured by someone who offered him a lift but actually they were kidnappers…they took him all the way to Mlolongo and ended up demanding ransom of Ksh50,000 but eventually the child was found safe but stranded in Mlolongo," Mama Winnie, a mother of three, narrated to Business Today.
She revealed how, in response, parents had organized themselves to beef up security by building a gate and hiring security guards to keep watch.
"It used to be a safe place but now we are hearing so many stories that we have to take precautions, we are no longer even allowing the children to go playing in different places around the estate so that we can keep an eye on them," she noted.
