A sombre mood engulfed Katheleu village, Igembe Central, Meru County after a naked body of a 10-year old schoolgirl who went missing Sunday was found in a riverbed.
The Class Four pupil at Mwerongai Primary school identified as Justa appeared to have been defiled and strangled before being dumped in the Bwathunaro gully near Maili Tatu.
Witnesses said the deceased was bleeding from her private parts and was half-naked, her hands tied from behind and her mouth gagged with a shirt.
Her distraught mother, Ms Fridah Gacheri said the girl had been sent to buy sugar from a nearby shop Sunday afternoon but did not return home.
The family mounted a search Sunday evening but abandoned it hoping Justa was just being cheeky and had visited a relative.
Ms Gacheri recounted how they received the heartbreaking news that the body had been found by members of the public, ending hopes of finding her alive.
“We were optimistic that she would return and thought she had lost the money and was afraid of coming back home. The hope was shattered after someone told us that the body of a young girl had been spotted and it fitted her description. She was wearing her school pullover, white blouse and white shoes,” she recounted amid tears.
The girl’s grandfather Joel Mucheke said the family was pained by the incident and called for investigations to arrest her killers.
Residents called on the police to enhance security in the area due to increased cases of insecurity occasioned by an increase in the number of bars and idle men around the area.
