London, July 16, 2019 (AltAfrica)-A 40-year-old Kenyan man is due to appear before a court on Tuesday after police arrested him for allegedly marrying a 10-year-old girl.

According to Joshua Kaputa, a Narok peace ambassador who rescued the girl, the minor was secretly married to the man at Olooltoto village in Narok North sub-county a week ago and had been living with her as his second wife, the Standard Media reported on Tuesday.

“We received the information from the villagers and last night together with police ambushed the man’s house and managed to rescue her,” said Kaputa.

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County Police Commander Adam Yunis confirmed that following a tip off from the members of the public police were dispatched to the village and managed to arrest the suspect.

The authorities are waiting for a medical report to ascertain whether she is still a virgin so that the appropriate charges can be pressed against the suspect.

Investigations are also being carried out to establish who else was involved in marrying off the minor – including her parents.

The girl “disappeared” from her home for a week with nobody reporting her missing thus raising suspicions about her parents’ involvement.

Relatives of the man led by a woman believed to be the suspect’s mother had tried to disrupt the arrest but were repulsed by the police.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing with the suspects expected to be arraigned in court.

The incident comes in the wake of a report released by the Ministry of Education showing the rate of admission of girls from semiarid areas into schools lags behind compared to boys.

Narok has made headlines for leading in teenage pregnancies and early marriages which currently stand at 40 percent according to a Demographic Health Survey report.

African News Agency/ANA