Kenyan accused of dismembering female corpses escapes custody

A suspect who police said confessed to killing 42 women and was arrested over the discovery of dismembered bodies in Kenya's capital has escaped from police custody, officials said on Tuesday.

Mohamed Amin, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, said Collins Jumaisi Khalusha had escaped along with 12 other Eritrean nationals who had been arrested for staying in the country illegally.

Acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli said disciplinary action had been taken against eight officers, including area and station managers and officers on duty.

“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was facilitated by insiders, given that appropriate officers were deployed to protect the station,” he said.

According to the police report, the inmates escaped early Tuesday morning after cutting through the wire mesh in the cell and scaling the outer wall. The escape was discovered when breakfast was brought into the cell.

Khalusha, 33, was detained at the police station after a court gave detectives seven more days to investigate his alleged crimes before filing charges against him.

Khalusha was arrested in July after ten bodies and several body parts wrapped in plastic bags were found in Nairobi's Kware district.

According to police, Khalusha confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife.

“This was a high-level suspect facing serious allegations. We are investigating the incident and will take appropriate action,” Amin said.

Khalusha's lawyer John Maina Ndegwa told reporters that his client was tortured and forced to confess, but maintained his innocence.

Ndegwa told AP he last spoke to Khalusha on Friday when he was brought before the court.

“I’m also confused by the news,” he said.

The police station from which the suspects had escaped was cordoned off with police tape and visited by senior police officers on Tuesday afternoon.

Two other suspects who were arrested after mobile phones belonging to some of the deceased women were found on them will have to appear in court again next Monday.

In July, police said the bodies were discovered after relatives of one of the missing women had a dream in which she told them to search a quarry.

The relatives asked for help from a local diver, who discovered the bodies wrapped in sacks. Six bodies were identified after DNA tests, but some body parts are still unidentified.

By Evelyne Musambi, Associated Press