Brothers held following stabbing to death of varsity graduate

Police are investigating the circumstances under which a recent University of Nairobi graduate was stabbed to death at his home in Nairobi’s South B neighbourhood on January 8.

They are holding two brothers who were with Mark Rabongo Ngome, 24, on the night the incident occurred at Kongoni flats at around 2:30am.

A post-mortem on the body has revealed that he died from a single stab to the neck, with detectives investigating the case saying the body was admitted to the mortuary with the knife still stuck in the neck.

As the family plans to bury Rabongo next week in Gem, the circumstances surrounding the stabbing still remain unclear, with questions around suicide now emerging.

“Investigations are ongoing. We were given 10 days to investigate the matter and they will lapse on January 20,” Lang’ata Sub County Police Commander Benjamin Mwanthi told the Nation yesterday.

Rabongo had been living with his friend’s family at their home in South B since he was a first year student at the university.

His friend’s mother, Ms Lorna Kwamboka, a human resources manager at IPS, Kampala, where she lives, had allowed him to live with her sons and ailing nephew at her flat in South B.

Knife in his neck

When the news of what happened reached her, she said, she took the next vehicle home and has been mourning and following up on the case since then.

Witnesses said a sharp scream was heard coming from the sitting room where Rabongo was sleeping. He was found with a knife in his neck that was stuck so deep that it had gone through to the back of his neck.

He was rushed to Nairobi South Hospital, which referred him to Kenyatta National Hospital where he died as he was being treated.

Later, officers from Akila police post arrested the two brothers; an adult and a minor, in connection with the killing. The two have since been transferred to Lang’ata police station where they will be held until their court appearance.

Ms Kwamboka’s ailing nephew was not arrested but was questioned by the police.

Nation caught up with Ms Kwamboka yesterday at her flat before she prepared a meal for her sons.

She said she has been unable to understand what happened because the boys had lived with Rabongo for years without any major issues.

“All those are my children; I’m sitting here waiting for God’s directions. If any of my children was involved in any way, God is alive, he will do what is just,” she said.

Living his purpose

Ms Kwamboka said she had played the role of a mother in Rabongo’s life and that his death had left a huge gap in her family.

“He was the eldest of my sons and I would send him money for the house and pay his campus fee,” she added.

On Facebook, Rabongo cuts the image of a young man living his purpose. If he was not in church preaching, he was in some church-related activity, or just resting at home. And with more than 100 likes on each of his photos and 4,900 friends on the platform, it is safe to say that he was a man of the people.

His influence nearly earned him a seat at the students’ union, but Ms Kwamboka advised him against it, out of fear that he would get immersed in the murky world of politics.

It was then that he took an interest in church and remained a youth leader until his death.

Ms Kwamboka said she was yet to gather enough courage to view the body at the mortuary.

“My mother and brother did it for me. I only want to remember Mark the way I knew him, I do not want to distort that image,” she said.

Disturbing text

Ms Kwamboka had been keeping in touch with Rabongo’s family until last week when she declined their request to travel to their rural home.

“I instead asked them to come here, where Mark lived, but they ejected me from the burial WhatsApp group. I, however, know the burial is slated for the 26th and the church here is holding a service for him on the 25th,” she said.

She said her biggest regret is not making a video call to her sons on the fateful night as is her norm; maybe then she would have noticed that something was amiss.

Sometime back, said Ms Kwamboka, Rabongo had posted a video of himself crying on his WhatsApp status, and when she asked him what the problem was, he said he was going through a relationship problem.

In 2018, he also posted a disturbing text on his Facebook page claiming that life was useless.

The police investigation will, however, determine whether his death was by suicide or by someone else.

“Mark was a good boy, a brilliant boy and very helpful, he would manage to carry my nephew by himself to the car during his chemo appointments, something that two people would struggle with,” she recalled.
Ms Kwamboka has hired a lawyer for her sons. 

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