What started as a simple curiosity quickly turned into a nightmare for a 17-year-old schoolgirl from Nairobi. Her disappearance last month led police to arrest a 26-year-old South African man staying in a high-end hotel in Westlands.
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The teen had downloaded the popular dating app Tinder after a classmate encouraged her to try it. Soon after creating her profile, she matched with a man later identified as Bradley Zwane. He was found to be operating from a luxury hotel, where he had been chatting with the girl.
Within days, the teen went missing from her home, and her parents reported the case to Kibra Police Station. Her mother, heartbroken and in fear, said she couldn’t sleep the entire night and rushed to her school early in the morning. That’s when she found out her daughter had gone to the hotel with a friend.
Police quickly tracked the girl to the hotel room in Westlands, where they found five Kenyan passports — four of them brand new — and one with travel stamps from South Africa and Russia. Used condoms were also discovered in the room, raising serious concerns.
Zwane, now under arrest, claimed he believed the girl was 18, as stated on her Tinder profile. He told police she insisted she was of age and even said she had just finished high school.
However, police are questioning how a minor managed to access a hotel that requires proper identification at check-in. Zwane also gave a suspicious explanation for the passports found in his room, saying they belonged to a company manager who had traveled to Europe.
Authorities are now investigating Zwane’s links to a possible international betting operation. The case has sparked major concern over how predators are using apps like Tinder to target young people — and the difficulty police face in keeping minors safe online.
The girl’s mother, still in shock, said Zwane had even called her: “He asked to talk. I begged him not to ruin my daughter’s life. She’s only 17. If something bad had happened to her, how would he live with that?”
Zwane remains locked up at Kibra Police Station and faces charges including defilement.
