A Kisumu woman has been arrested for alleged online child sex exploitation after a video went viral of her supposedly getting intimate with her 14-year-old son.
According to the police, the woman is suspected of involving her Grade Eight son in incestuous acts but had fled a trap set by her neighbours, who raised concern after watching the video online.
The neighbours had alleged that the woman was selling the videos to child pornography sites. We have withheld the suspect’s identity to protect the minor.
Her cover was reportedly blown when she 'mistakenly' sent a video of herself and the boy in the act. The clip has since leaked online attracting condemnation from many Kisumu residents.
Mr Stanley Koech, the Kisumu Central Deputy Sub County Police Commander, said the issue came to their attention around 7pm on Thursday March 6 when they received information about the alleged child exploitation activities.
According to him, it is the viral video that prompted them to action.
By Thursday evening, word had gone round and online users were volunteering information about the woman who was at large for the better part of the day.
She, however, surrendered herself at the Kondele Police Station on Thursday evening after she got wind of the search by police and the public.
The police had initially commenced the search for the suspect by involving teachers from the school where the boy attends. The Deputy Head teacher and the class teacher brought the minor to the police.
He was later held briefly at a rescue centre within Kondele Police Station before being taken to the Agape Children’s Ministry home for care and counselling.
After this, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations trailed the suspect using her phone number, which was located around Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital at 8.30pm on Thursday.
By this time, pressure from residents was piling and this drove the woman to surrender herself for her safety.
The video is traced back to 2023, when the woman was staying with a man said to come from Nyakach in Kisumu County.
The man had travelled to Qatar and it is said that he suggested various money-making ventures, including selling sexually explicit images.
“The suspect told us that the man had initially said the devil worshipers needed a sacrifice and that she had to give them the teenager for them to be rich, which she refused. He then proposed the pornography business, which she accepted, shot videos and sent to their contact believed to be outside the country,” said an officer from Kondele Police Station, who is privy to the investigation but opted to speak in confidence.
The man is said to have died in a road accident in November 2023 cutting links between the woman and their main contact in Qatar.
According to some neighbours, the woman is said to be a sex worker who has been entertaining clients in the house and also hosting some of her counterparts in the business in the presence of the minor.
But it is investigations from the DCI that will lift the veil on the illegal and criminal activities that are claimed to have been going on since 2023.
Mr Koech said cases of child exploitation is a serious offence and the investigation agencies are taking this case with the seriousness it deserves.
The police are currently recording statements from the two teachers, neighbours and other persons of interest with the suspect expected to appear in court on Monday March 10.
The investigators are also tracing the numbers or sites where the videos were sent as they probe the alleged child pornography ring.
Some officers who have had access to the woman’s phone told the Nation in confidence that there were a number of pornographic videos, which they suspect were meant to be sold.
“The exhibits that have been recovered will be forwarded to the DCI headquarters for analysis and extraction of evidence to ensure that we get strong evidence to be presented before court. We have the anti-human trafficking and child protection units who are taking keen interest in the case,” said Mr Koech.
The Sub County Commander also warned the public against sharing the video, saying the police will liaise with Communications Authority of Kenya to pull the video down in sites where it has been uploaded and at the same time protect the minor
This is not an isolated case. In October 2024, a 39-year-old woman who runs a day care centre, appeared before Kikuyu Law Courts where she faced 36 counts of child pornography, indecent acts with minors and child abuse.
In 2022, a house help is said to have trusted a stranger on Facebook who lured her in the world of child pornography. She was jailed for life and for 10 years for a separate offence. The sentences run concurrently.
