Regina Wairimu (left) and Mathira blogger Maureen Gathigia Kinyua. Their families have asked politicians to stop trading accusations on the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Two families in Nyeri and Murang’a have told politicians to stop invoking their dead kin’s names in exchanges that have dominated rallies by both ruling and opposition parties in the past two weeks.
The families of Ms Regina Wairimu and Maureen Kinyua have said that politicians trading accusations on the circumstances surrounding the death of the two women have been reigniting pain and agony that they have struggled with for years.
In Murang'a, the family of Regina, a fourth-year telecommunication and electrical engineering student at Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri at the time of her death, wants security agencies and politicians to stop pestering them with requests to call for fresh investigations.
Regina died on February 12, 2023, while eight months pregnant, with doctors citing excessive bleeding related to pregnancy complications.
Her dead baby son was found stuffed inside a travelling bag in the 11 am incident when she was declared dead at Nyeri County hospital.
On February 17, 2023, Dr Bill Muriuki conducted an autopsy on Regina’s body as well as on the dead baby.
The findings were that “the uterus contains products of conception…placenta seen…walls of uterus have multiple lesions seen”.
The pathologist concluded that “as a result of my examination, I formed the opinion that the cause of death was a result of severe haemorrhage”.
President William Ruto, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot and Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomba have been vocal publicly claiming that they know of a Mt Kenya politician notorious for impregnating women and later murdering them.
“You impregnated a girl the age of your child. Then killed her. What can you tell us? Is this a person to lead anywhere?” President Ruto claimed last week without mentioning who he was referring to.
Ichung’wa, Cheruiyot and Wa Muchomba have made similar accusations and threatened an unnamed individual with prosecution on allegations of having a hand in her death.
Speaking in Kenol town yesterday, the family spokesperson, Ms Francisca Wambui, said they have been receiving calls and visits from people introducing themselves as government agents intending to investigate the death of Regina.
“The agents have been proposing enticements that we agree to investigate the matter afresh, saying there is new evidence that a certain Mt Kenya politician is a prime suspect,” she said.
Ms Wambui said some family members had been promised a token of appreciation amounting to Sh10 million if they called a press conference to demand that a certain prominent Mt Kenya politician be investigated over the death.
Pallbearers carry to the grave the remains of Regina Wairimu, 22, on February 21, 2023, who until her death was a fourth-year engineering student at the Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri County.
She termed the drive as callous, irresponsible, insensitive and clear evidence of the justice system gone to the dogs, where crime is not investigated for what it is, but senior politicians can publicly, outside the linkages of justice, use grief to settle personal scores.
Ms Wambui said the family feels abused, smitten and demeaned in the proposal to use the sad incident to play national politics.
Earlier, Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Mr Rigathi Gachagua had criticised President Ruto for what he termed as “a petty mindset that uses social media content by propaganda bloggers to play politics”.
Mr Gachagua said, "the President has decided to become so petty to a point he goes around using posts by Mathira bloggers that have been going on for the past two years to construct his 2027 propaganda".
According to investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) at the time, 10 people recorded statements regarding the death of Ms Wairimu.
After the tragedy, Regina’s father, Harrison Kinyanjui, had briefed the media, saying police had revealed to them that her daughter had been taken to the hospital in a taxi by two ladies who introduced themselves as her friends.
She had been ferried from a rental house in Kangemi estate, where detectives found blood stains on the carpet and in the bathroom of the bed sitter.
Nyeri town bar
"There had been a deliberate effort to wash it off. The deceased, accompanied by two ladies, had arrived in the room at around 2am of February 12, 2023. The room belonged to one of the ladies in her company,” the DCI report read at the time.
The report noted that the women said the blood stains were menses from the deceased.
In their statement, the two women said they had teamed up with Regina in a Nyeri town bar where she had gone to meet the father of her baby.
At the club, they were joined by the resident Disc Jockey, who also happened to be a friend of the said influential man.
“The two ladies, Regina and the baby daddy, are said to have left the club to yet another one, and at around 1.30am, minus the baby daddy, the three ladies left,” the report read.
Despite Regina being a tenant in nearby hostels, the three opted to go to a friend’s house that was further from the second club.
The two women narrated that at the house, they slept, but at around 5 am, Regina woke up complaining of stomach and backache. She swallowed some painkillers.
“She further complained of being hungry, and she was served some tea and slices of bread…But by 10am her condition had worsened to a point the two companions decided to take her to hospital,” the report stated.
“The two ladies report that they walked out to get a taxi and, with the help of two male tenants, carried her to the waiting taxi that took them to the University’s health centre. The personnel at the centre reported that she was pronounced dead on arrival, and on examination, she had a sanitary towel on her private parts,” the report read.
It was then that the health facility put her in an ambulance to be taken to the Level Five Referral, “but the ambulance driver noted that there were two safari bags that had been removed from the taxi that ferried her to the health centre and had been left unattended in the compound”.
The report noted that the two women did not appear enthusiastic to acknowledge being aware of the two bags, but the ambulance driver took them up and loaded them beside Ms Wairimu.
At the Nyeri Referral Hospital, the two bags were opened, and one had a dead foetus. The other contained bloody pieces of clothing.
What detectives have never made public is who wanted Regina’s baby dead if indeed it was a forced abortion.
On Tuesday, Ms Wambui said what the family wants is an official report of the investigative findings by the DCI and not political gimmicks that are tied to the 2027 competition.
"Politicians should feel very ashamed of themselves for choosing sad moments in families to play politics," she said.
The remains of Regina Wairimu, 22, being laid to rest on February 21, 2023.
And in a twist surrounding claims by a Nairobi lawyer that a woman in Mathira died from a gunshot and not after an accident, as alleged, the family has disowned the lawyer’s claims.
Carefully planned murder
The family of Maureen Kinyua said a letter addressed to the Director of Public Prosecutions seeking an inquest into her death following a 2019 road accident did not originate from them.
Ms Kinyua’s family was responding to a letter dated March 19, 2026, in which Maureen’s father, James Kinyua Macharia, through lawyer Geoffrey Omenke, requested an inquest, claiming that the death was a carefully planned murder.
In a letter dated March 23, 2026, written through their lawyer Wahome Gikonyo and addressed to the DPP, Ms Kinyua’s mother, Nancy Wanjiru Murage, and her brother, Francis Kiama Kinyua, dismissed the request for an inquest, saying they were not consulted and are satisfied with the findings of the postmortem.
Ms Kinyua, a Mathira -based blogger, died on May 24, 2019, after she was involved in a hit-and-run accident near Sagana Catholic Church in Nyeri County.
However, her mother and brother maintain that medical records and a postmortem report dated May 30, 2019, confirmed that she died from head and chest injuries caused by blunt force trauma sustained in the accident.
According to the duo, investigations established that Maureen was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle that collided with a Toyota Sienta, registration number KCJ 735B, along the Kiamariga–Hombe Road in Mathira Constituency.
The vehicle’s driver, Jackson Ng’ang’a Njora, was subsequently charged at the Karatina Principal Magistrate’s Court with causing death by dangerous driving.
After the traffic suit was concluded in 2023, the family filed a civil suit against the driver and the vehicle owner, Francis Mugendi Njagi. The court found them fully liable for the accident, and the family was awarded compensation.
In the letter, Maureen’s mother and brother question the timing of the renewed push for an inquest, terming it suspicious that it is being raised seven years after the incident.
“Our clients are wondering why Mr James Kinyua is waking up seven years after the death and burial of the deceased to assist bloggers and some politicians to ‘dance on her grave’. His actions are being motivated by ulterior factors other than a sincere desire to vindicate justice,” says lawyer Gikonyo.
The letter also claims that Mr Kinyua had no role in Maureen’s upbringing, nor did he participate in her funeral arrangements or attend her burial.
Old wounds
According to them, the renewed calls for an inquest have reopened old wounds and caused them distress. They have accused politicians and bloggers of exploiting the matter.
“Our clients have information that there are some people trying to tamper with hospital, police and court records with a sinister motive,” says lawyer Gikonyo.
In contrast, the March 19 letter seeking an inquest claims that documents and witness accounts contradict the finding that Maureen died in a road accident.
Lawyer Geoffrey Omenke alleges that Maureen was lured to Mataga by a female friend said to have links to a senior political figure from the Mt Kenya region, where she remained until past 6 pm.
When she attempted to leave, the woman allegedly contacted her brother, a boda boda operator, and instructed him on where to drop Maureen.
The letter further claims the rider disappeared from the scene immediately after the incident and only resurfaced after being summoned by a police commander, suggesting possible prior coordination.
It also alleges that the motorcycle involved had no visible damage, raising doubts about the accident narrative.
“At the scene, the purported motorcycle did not have a dent to suggest that there was an accident, and the deceased had a hole penetration in the forehead,” lawyer Omenke says, adding that the injury was not captured in the official autopsy report.
The letter also claims that shortly after the incident, the wife of the alleged political figure arrived at the scene, surveyed the area and left; an act Maureen’s father found suspicious.
Further, the letter claims that Maureen’s mobile phone went missing after her death and may have contained crucial communication that could shed light on the circumstances surrounding her death.
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