Kiambu family seeks answers over death of daughter
Mr Joseph Mwangi and Ms Lucy Muthoni whose daughter, Mercy Wanjiru Mwangi, was found dead on October 23, 2020.
What you need to know:
- Ms Mercy Wanjiru Mwangi, who worked in Kalro's accounts department, went missing on the evening of October 19, moments after leaving her father’s house for a nearby kiosk to buy airtime.
- Her father, Mr Joseph Mwangi, indicated in his police report that Ms Wanjiru had made almost 20 distress calls to him between noon and 1pm.
A family in Kabete, Kiambu County, has asked the police to intensify investigations into circumstances surrounding the disappearance and subsequent death of their daughter.
Ms Mercy Wanjiru Mwangi, who worked in the accounts department of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro), went missing on the evening of October 19, moments after leaving her father’s house for a nearby kiosk to buy mobile phone airtime. Her body was later found following a search by the family.
Her father, Mr Joseph Mwangi, indicated in his police report that Ms Wanjiru had made almost 20 distress calls to him between noon and 1pm on the fateful day claiming that three colleagues were trying to force her to sign a document.
He told her to go to his house in in Kamuguga, Kabete, where she was to spend the night instead of going to her house in Kabuku Estate near Kikuyu.
When she arrived at her father's home at around 6.30pm, she found her mother, Ms Lucy Muthoni, with some of her other siblings.
According to Ms Muthoni, her daughter stayed for about 20 minutes before excusing herself to go and buy airtime from a nearby shop.
That was the last time the family would see her alive.
After a brief search, and failing to reach her on phone, they reported the matter to officers at Kikuyu Police Station.
Body found
On October 23, Mr Mwangi says he received a phone call from an investigating officer who advised him to go to City Mortuary as a body fitting the description of his daughter had been retrieved from a hole filled with water.
“When we went to the mortuary, we found that the said body was of our sister Wanjiru. Shockingly, the jacket on her body was not the one she left with,” said Ms Wanjiru’s brother.
A postmortem report notes that she died from drowning. But the family now wants further investigations.
Her body has since been moved to Kabati Mortuary, Murang’a County, ahead of the burial on the November 3.
At the scene where the body was retrieved, Mr Mwangi said on-lookers who included the land owner told the police the farmer discovered the body while trying to fetch water from the hole for irrigation. The lid to the hole had been sealed from outside using some wires.
“There are many questions. I hope the police will unravel the death of our daughter”, says Mr Mwangi.
