Police search for remandee who escaped from hospital

Homa Bay County Referral Hospital. Police are looking for a remandee who escaped from one of the hospital's isolation room. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Ms Lungatso said the suspect was admitted to an isolation room at the hospital.
  • Officers who were guarding him stayed outside the ward because of the contagious condition of the disease.

Security officers in Homa Bay are looking for a remandee who escaped from the county’s referral hospital where he was receiving treatment.

The suspect, identified as Joseph Odhiambo Ogweno, escaped from an isolation ward on Thursday last week where he was receiving treatment after being diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB).

He was admitted to the hospital after falling sick while at the Homa Bay GK Prison.

DEFILEMENT

Mr Ogweno was arrested last year on accusations of defiling a minor in Kakrungu village, Mbita Sub-County.

He was charged at the Mbita Law Courts.

The suspect denied the charge and was remanded at the prison on November 29, 2019 after he was unable to raise bond.

The officer in charge of Homa Bay GK Prison Beverline Lungatso said the suspect showed signs of TB when he was in remand.

"He had to be taken to the hospital for check-up [and] doctors advised that he should stay at the health facility for a period of up to 18 months," she said.

ISOLATION ROOM

Ms Lungatso said the suspect had been admitted to an isolation room in the hospital.

Officers who were guarding him stayed outside the ward because of the contagious nature of the disease.

"The suspect stayed in the hospital for about four months before he escaped. He might have taken advantage of being alone in the isolation room to escape. Officers guarded him from outside the room and only realised that he was missing after some time had passed," Ms Lungatso said.

She said her office is working with other security agencies in Homa Bay to apprehend the suspect.