Update Friday, January 26: A 12-year-old abducted by an unknown woman in Gikomba on Sunday, January 21 has been found alive and safe around the Kyangulu Hills in Kitui County.
The former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko had urged citizens to help look for the girl, exposing the suspect in a CCTV footage shared on various social media platforms.
The suspect has been arrested and detained, as investigations into the case continue.
Nairobi residents have been advised to stay alert and remain vigilant as criminals have devised new ways of abducting children.
Former governor Mike Sonko on Thursday warned of the rise in the number of abduction cases, advising parents to be on the lookout for house helps who pretend to look for work but traffic minors instead.
“Abductors have found a new way of conducting the criminal act by pretending to be house helps to look for work, and if they find a child alone at home, they abduct him/her,” Sonko alleged.
In the CCTV video from a hardware store in the Gikomba area in Nairobi, the unidentified woman was captured loitering around the neighbourhood for hours before entering an apartment where the missing girl reportedly lived.
In the footage, the lady accessed the premises at 2:00 pm and exited it at 3:45 pm, indicating that she spent more than one and a half hours inside.
“She went up to Kobo Munyiri road, claiming to be lost. She also asked for directions from one of the conductors of a matatu Sacco,” the girl's relative stated.
According to the child's father, the woman did not target the girl initially seen by the amount of time she spent in the apartment.
“If she were intending to kidnap my child, she would have spent less time in here. We think she was looking to abduct any child,” the embattled father expressed his thoughts.
According to a missing person's poster, the girl was said to be a 12-year-old Grade 7 student at Methodist Kariokor School and was a member of PEFA Church Gikomba. They, however, did not reveal whether they filed a missing person's report at a police station.
Sonko through his X platform requested the public to help trace the missing child and report her whereabouts to the nearest police station or call her parents. He also offered a Ksh300,000 reward to whoever found the minor.
The girl was last seen on Sunday, January 21 in the Business arcade in Gikomba, wearing a white hoodie, red shorts and white shoes.
She was also captured following the alleged house help who was wearing white open shoes, a black lace skirt and a black hoodie. It appeared that she convinced the child to follow her as the two were walking shoulder to shoulder.
At first, the woman, had her right hand behind the child's back, in what was perceived as her way of offering direction.
She also pointed towards the region they were headed to. The girl, nonetheless, appeared calm as she had pocketed.
