A family from Kanyariri village in Mbeere South Sub-county, Embu, is crying for justice following the death of their 23-year-old daughter under mysterious circumstances.
The body of Doreen Nyakio alias Candy who was a fourth-year IT student at Meru National Polytechnic was found at Embu Level Five Hospital mortuary on February 7 with a bruised head as the only visible injury on her body.
A post-mortem examination conducted on February 8 revealed that she died of cardiac arrest as a result of trauma on the head caused by a blunt object.
Her parents had a day before the discovery of her body reported her disappearance at Embu Police Station and also posted a missing person alert on social media before they received a call from an unknown person the following day informing them that their daughter was admitted at the facility.
Her father, Joseph Muchiri, said after viewing her body, he shortly afterward received a call from the police informing him to proceed to the police station where he met two officers and a man who was not familiar to him.
He said after a brief engagement, they all proceeded to the man’s house located at Ngariama Estate on the outskirts of Embu Town where police recovered her belongings including clothes, shoes, and her National Identity Card.
Muchiri said he later came to know that the man said to have been cohabiting with her daughter was her teacher at her former Muconoke Secondary School.
The family called for the arrest and questioning of the teacher as according to them he was the prime suspect given that her belongings were found in his house.
“We do not understand why he has not been arrested and the more he is let loose, the more he could interfere with investigations,” he said while accusing the police of dragging their feet over the matter.
Her mother, Josephine Rwamba, said it was clear that her daughter was murdered given the head injury, and called for the suspect in whose house her belongings were found to be held criminally liable for her death.
“It does not add up why we were called and informed of her admission at the facility just a day after posting her disappearance on Facebook,” she said.
This, she said, pointed towards a cover-up by the suspect who did not want to be associated with her disappearance.
She also said there was an attempt to disguise her death since they were told she had walked over to a chemist to buy medicines for a headache where she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital and died while receiving treatment.
“It is clear from the wound on her face that she was hit by someone and we have every reason to believe that the person she was living with is the one who can shed more light on what happened to her,” she said amid sobs.
By Samuel Waititu
