Police in Bomet County have arrested seven suspects after a gang rape video that was widely shared online sparked public uproar.
The suspects were flushed out of their hideouts in the Olbutyo area in the Chepalungu sub-county.
According to a police report filed at Olbutyo police station, two of the suspects in the viral video were positively identified.
“Following the circulation of video purported to have taken place at Chebanyiny village of Kimaya sub-location about 3kms west of the station. Police officers together with area chief and nyumba kumi elders conducted the operation at the said area and managed to arrest seven suspects among them two have been identified,” part of the police report reads.
The video
The undated video, which went viral on social media, showed several men in a dimly lit room taking turns to sexually assault a woman.
The clip aptly titled ‘Sigor Boys’ showed the men gladly taking turns to sexually assault the woman led by the person filming the incident.
Bomet County Police Commander Robinson Ndiwa said the video was shot last year but was only released Wednesday, April 10, 2024, on social media platforms.
The police boss further insisted that the law does not allow sharing of such content online.
“The matter was not reported to us. We are doing all we can to process the whole thing. The law doesn’t allow such content to be distributed or displayed anywhere,” he said.
Similar incident
A similar incident was reported last year where a woman in Mombasa was arrested for filming and posting photos and videos of a minor online.
According to the charge sheet, the woman used the social media site MeetMe to subject the minor to online abuse by sharing their birthday suit photos with a person using the username Zohair Al Mukaram.
The court heard that the suspect committed the offences on various dates between July and October 15, 2023, in an unknown location within Changamwe, Mombasa County.
Police investigators claimed that the woman met the foreigner on the dating site MeetMe, where they chatted and exchanged photos.
The suspect shared beach photos of herself and her child with the foreigner.
“The foreigner developed an interest in the minor and informed the mother that he would recruit her for his modelling agency, promising to train her to be a model,” the police said.
The foreigner then requested the woman to share birthday suit photos of her daughter, sending her explicit photos of white children as well.
The court heard that the suspect sent several explicit photos to the foreigner until she was exposed by local and international law enforcement agencies dealing with human trafficking and child exploitation.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Police officers tracked down the suspect in the Mikindani area, where they raided her house and arrested her.
During the raid, the investigators seized mobile phones and other items, which were subjected to forensic analysis, resulting in the recovery of the explicit images.
