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Kenya child killer beaten to death by mob after jail escape

October 15, 2021 GMT

Murder suspect Masten Wanjala sits in the back of a police truck after being taken by police to a scene to identify the location of alleged victim remains, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Police in Kenya said Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 that the man who police say confessed to killing a dozen children and escaped from detention this week has been killed by a mob near his home in Bungoma county. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya say a man who had confessed to killing a dozen children and escaped from detention this week has been killed by a mob.

Area Assistant County Commissioner Cornelius Nyaribai confirmed the killing of Masten Wanjala on Thursday. The killing near his home in Bungoma county came a day after he escaped from police cells in Nairobi.

Police authorities said Wanjala was identified after he joined a football match and played with locals. Some then trailed him and beat him to death.

“The law of the jungle as applied by irate villagers prevailed,” Kenyan police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a tweet on Friday.

Authorities have said Wanjala had confessed to killing 12 children in Nairobi and Machakos and Bungoma counties when he was arrested in July. He reportedly posed as a football coach to lure victims.

So far, five bodies have been recovered.