Juja dam tragedy: Wife seeks help to identify mystery woman found with husband
Margaret Kiiru and her husband Tirus Maina. Tirus drowned when his car rolled into a dam on January 18, 2023.
The wife of Kiambu businessman whose motor vehicle plunged into a dam in Juja while in the company of a woman he was cohabiting with has appealed to the well-wishers to help her trace the family of the estranged female whose body is still unclaimed at Nairobi’s City Mortuary.
Ms Margaret Kiiru told Nation that no one has shown up at the public morgue to claim the body even as the burial of her husband Tirus Maina, 39 has been set for this Friday at his ancestral home in Mukurei-ini Nyeri County.
"We have not been able to identify the family of the young lady who drowned together with my husband in Juja on Tuesday because when she was retrieved from the dam, she had no identification documents. I have no problem getting to know who her family is or who can help us get to know them so that they can also have closure,’’ Ms Kiiru maintained.
A source at the city mortuary confirmed to the Nation on Tuesday evening that the body is still lying there unclaimed.
City mortuary is one of the most populated morgues in Nairobi that is normally full to the brim because of many unclaimed bodies retrieved from Nairobi County where it is domiciled and its environs. It hosts murder victims killed and dumped, accidents, fire tragedy among others.
Over the years, the facility has invited families to come and check their lost or missing loved ones before the Nairobi-county government run facility disposes the latter to pave way for space.
Mr Maina had taken his secret lover to the titanic dam in Juja last week away from the public eye to have a good time, 19 kilometres from his matrimonial home in Thika town, Kiambu county where his official family lives.
But for Tirus Maina, 39, he was not lucky on that particular time and day when his motor vehicle plunged into the river and the duo died instantly.
He was easily identified after the number plates of his motor vehicle were shared online after the latter was retrieved from the killer dam.
Mr Maina had packed his Nissan X-trail at the edge of the dam and police sources and Kiambu fire and emergency department that retrieved their bodies as well as the motor vehicle told Nation they suspected two theories into the incident.
One, Mr Maina was drunk and instead of reversing the vehicle, drove into the dam either by mistake or intentionally and sank, another theory police are pursuing is that of a probable suicide theory.
Juja OCPD Phylis Muthoni, whose incident happened under her jurisdiction, told Nation last week that preliminary investigations have revealed that Mr Maina may have driven the motor vehicle into the river but maintained that they are still on the case to understand what really happened.
''We managed to retrieve the vehicle yesterday from the dam and we found it on drive mode meaning the deceased (Mr Maina) may have driven the vehicle into the dam by mistake. We are not ruling out any other factors into the incident and that is why because we are investigating the incident. I do not want to discuss it further until full investigation is complete,’’ Ms Muthoni told Nation.
Sarah Kiiru, the official wife to the deceased earlier said that she never suspected her husband was engaging in extra marital affairs outside marriage and was really saddened and shocked by his death.
She said My Maina has left home on the fateful Tuesday, telling her he was going to Kathiani , Machakos county where he was going to inspect a project that he had recently secured given he is a contractor.
Kiambu police commander Perminus Kioi, who is spearheading the investigations said, "There is nothing much to the investigations because it's clear the occupant or occupants either intentionally or by mistake plunged the vehicle into the river. Unfortunately, they are both dead and no one can account or explain what really happened."
