3-year-old boy kidnapped, eyes gouged out in Kisii

Police officers in Kisii are searching for a gang that kidnapped a 3-year-old baby and gouged out his eyes before dumping him at the family’s banana plantation.

The gang is said to have taken away the child from his family home in Marani on Wednesday evening and held him for more than 6 hours, sending his family in a panic as they searched for the minor’s whereabouts.

The minor was rushed to the Kisii Eye Hospital after he was found with his face covered with blood; he is recuperating in the general ward after a surgical procedure.

Apart from the excruciating pain, the bizarre incident - doctors say - has left the toddler blind.

“Both his eyes had been removed completely, and there are some injuries in the lids…so it looks like there was a sharp instrument like a knife that was used,” said Dr. Daniel Kiage.

Residents of Ikuruma village in Marani, Kisii County, are still reeling in shock, following the heinous crime committed on baby Sagini.

When they all joined his family to look for him after he went missing, none of them imagined the state he would be found in.

Police had initially arrested baby Sagini’s father as a suspect in the investigations but later released him for lack of evidence connecting him to the crime.

As he lies on his hospital bed, swathes of bandages covering the emptiness where his eyes once were and unable to comprehend why his world is suddenly dark, his grandmother sits by, weeping quietly.

His family is calling on the police to speed up investigations and bring to book the perpetraors of this atrocity.

Doctors say Sagini is scheduled for a second operation as soon as he is stable enough.