The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has announced the arrest of a key suspect in the kidnapping of the Gatuto Primary School headteacher, Joshua Kerai.
According to the DCI, the suspect had been among three assailants who reportedly abducted the school head on November 4 in Kagumo, Kirinyaga County.
“Kirinyaga East Sub-County detectives have apprehended a prime suspect behind the kidnapping of Gatuto Primary School Headteacher, Joshua Kerai, which occurred on November 4, 2025, in Kagumo, Kirinyaga County,” DCI said in a statement.
The three are accused of ambushing Kerai last Tuesday, bundling him up in a Toyota Ractis and driving him around in circles in a harrowing ordeal.
Later, the headteacher was left disillusioned and confused, with the suspects leaving him inside the same vehicle at a petrol station in Kutus Town, Kirinyaga.
He would later be rescued by a good Samaritan who took him to the hospital in Kerugoya to receive medical treatment.
After the incident was reported, detectives from Kirinyaga East launched investigations, combing through forensic evidence and intelligence leads.
This is how they finally zeroed in on the suspect at his hideout in Kutus, where he was arrested after days of meticulous pursuit.
The detectives have since discovered that the man is a serial offender, linked to a string of serious crimes, including motor vehicle theft, stock theft, robberies, and shop break-ins across the region.
While he awaits an arraignment in court, the police have launched a manhunt to round up his two co-conspirators.
The arrest and kidnapping come just a day after another missing school head, the Munyuki Secondary School Principal, who had been missing for some days, was found dumped in the Kipkaren River on Saturday, November 8.
Reportedly, the death was staged as an accident, but it is suspected that the principal was tortured and killed before being dumped in the river.
