Criminal investigations take time and meticulous planning and following up on leads to get to the truth.
Such was the case in the disappearance and murder of Dutchman Jacobus Van Der Goes whose body was discovered in a septic tank in his Nyali residence, Mombasa County, after months of searching in 2016.
The perpetrators were found to be his gardener John Ochieng Ayieko, and a friend Joseph Ogolla Ajowi who have since been convicted of the crime.
The DCI in a conclusive piece shared the details of the case in the monthly edition of the police’s unit magazine.
The investigators found that the 77-year-old man had chosen to retire in Kenya after working for the Dutch government.
Prior to his disappearance, he had spent time with his lover Elizabeth Wahinya before he drove her to the bus stage to catch a bus to Nairobi on January 3, 2016.
Without a trace, he disappeared as his phone went off. His daughter Anne Margaretha Van Der Goes raised the alarm after days of trying to contact her father without any success.
She traveled to Kenya from the Netherlands where she reported the matter to the police.
A few days later, Ochieng’ the gardener was arrested and charged with four counts of stealing by servant after he was caught on CCTV making withdrawals from Der Goes’ ABN AMRO bank account using his missing ATM Card.
He pleaded guilty and was subsequently convicted. As the investigators continued putting things into place, they established that Ochieng’ had made ATM withdrawals of close to Ksh300,000 from Der Goes’ bank account between January 6 and 11, 2016.
The withdrawals were done in Kiengeleni, Diani, and Kericho.
The investigators also established that Okoth, the gardener’s nephew was driving the Toyota Rav4 belonging to the dutchman and was involved in a road accident around Makupa roundabout.
He subsequently vanished from the accident scene and the vehicle was towed to Makupa Police Station and
detained.
Realizing that the chances that Der Goes’ was alive were slim, investigators moved to search the man’s property for his body.
They invited Mombasa County’s fire brigade to help search the septic tank. The team arrived on June 14, 2016, after an 8-hour search, they retrieved human skeletons from the 58-feet deep septic tank.
“The flesh had decomposed leaving only bones, which were wrapped in a blood-drenched bed sheet and a mattress.
In addition, the team pulled out a bloodstained metal bar and a claw hammer, which were believed to be the murder weapons,” the DCI revealed.
DNA evidence gathered showed that the remains pulled out belonged to Der Goes.
Subsequently, Ochieng, Okoth, and Ogolla were charged with killing the Dutchman in Nyali Estate between January 4 and 6, 2016.
Kenya’s National Police Service honored the five DCI investigators with promotions.
