Dominic Wabala
2 July 2009
Nairobi — The family of 15-year-old Eugene Nelson Mandela Ochieng has appealed to his abductors to state their demands.
His father Mr Nelson Adhok Ochieng on Thursday said that the family was ready to pay the ransom if the abductors gave him proof that his son was alive. The boy was kidnapped on Tuesday morning.
"We are appealing to those people to contact us. We will give them whatever they want so long as they assure us that my son is still alive," Mr Ochieng said.
He said he would abide by any instructions given by the kidnappers to get his son back. Relatives and friends trickled to Mr Ochieng's Saika Estate house off Kangundo Road to console the family.
Polite and friendly
His brothers and sisters reminisced about Eugene, saying he was a polite and friendly youth who loved to play football. "He is adored by all children in the estate and he must be terrified of his abductors," said his sister Linda.
Neighbours said that Eugene was known to most of them. He is the eighth born in a family of 10 -- five boys and five girls -- and went to primary school at Silvergate Academy before joining St Teresa Secondary School in Eastleigh, Nairobi.
His mother is dead and he and his siblings live with their father, who works with Kenya Revenue Authority at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
On the fateful Tuesday, Eugene had woken up at 4.50am, taken a shower and had his breakfast while a cousin assisted his ailing father to prepare for a doctor's appointment.
The boy then got into a waiting taxi which was to take his father to Upper Hill Medical Centre where he was scheduled to undergo dialysis.
He was to alight at the Kangundo Road-Outer Ring Road junction to board a Route 17 matatu that would drop him at school.
However, the taxi was blocked by another car as they drove out of the estate. The gangsters ordered them to get out of the car and lie down and robbed them of money and mobile phones.
Minutes later, as another resident was driving out, the gangsters shot and injured him in the chest before dragging Eugene into their getaway car and speeding off.
Although they demanded Sh1 million when they took him, the abductors have not contacted the family since.
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