33-year-old Collins Jumaisi – stamped by the police as a "vampire and psychopath" – was not in his cell when the guards were serving breakfast early on Tuesday morning.
"When they opened the cell door, they discovered that 13 prisoners had escaped", the police report, adding that the fence to an outdoor area had been cut open.
The police station from which the detained persons escaped is located in northern Nairobi, in an area where several embassies are situated and where the UN has its regional headquarters. A large-scale hunt for the escapees is underway in the capital area.
Ten dismembered women's bodies were found on July 13 in plastic bags in an old quarry used as a dump in one of Nairobi's slum areas. Collins Jumaisi was arrested two days later and, according to the police, he has since confessed to having murdered a total of 42 women over a two-year period – his wife was the first victim.
Jumaisi's lawyer accuses the police of having tortured the suspect and forcing these confessions out of him.
