Suspected serial killer's picture released

Police in Kirinyaga, Central Province district on Monday released a picture of a suspected serial killer wanted in connection with the murders of several women in the district.

The pictures taken by CCTV cameras mounted in several banks in the area show the suspect withdrawing money from the accounts of some of his victims.

Kirinyaga police boss Patrick Oduma, said the suspect is believed to have killed more than five women in the district including a nurse and a senior employee of Kirinyaga county council in the past few months.

The suspect is also linked to the murder of a business woman last month and a house girl three months ago.

Oduma said the suspect belongs to the Kikuyu tribe, aged between 35-40 and works in a gang of four which operates from Githurai in Nairobi.

Oduma who was briefing the press in his office termed the suspect as a dangerous and merciless murderer who kills at the slightest provocation.

The suspect allegedly gains access into his victims' homes using a master key, catching his victims unawares, before raping them and slitting their throats using a knife.

Police say that efforts to nab the suspect have been fruitless and are calling on members of public to assist the police with any useful information that may lead to his apprehension.

The security situation in Kirinyaga district has deteriorated in the past few months with traders in Kerugoya town closing shop early this year and vowing not to resume business until the situation was addressed.

Their action was triggered by various cases of unresolved murders that have hit Kerugoya town and its environs in the recent past.

In May armed gangsters raided the home of an employee of Kirinyaga County Council in and brutally murdered her, raped her eight year-old-daughter before setting her house ablaze.

The four gangsters armed with crude weapons are said to have raided the home of Anne Thanji and demanded to be given money and the deceased's ATM card.

She complied but gave them the wrong PIN number and after attempts to access her bank account failed, they went back to the house and ferociously attacked the woman, raping her and her daughter before setting the house a blaze.

The little girl managed to escape but the woman who had deep cuts all over her body could not pull herself out of the blaze.