Joyce Wanjira, whose badly mutilated body was found dumped outside Kagaa Secondary School in Murang’a County on August 21 cut into four pieces, had a premonition about her death and attempted to hide from it.
She had run away from her husband Isaac Kabiro, 44, and their four children in Karigu-ini village, Murang’a County, and gone to live with her sister’s home in Thika town, Kiambu.
Her sister Beth Mungai immediately realised that Wanjira, who was a green maize trader at Kenol market, appeared stressed and always fearful.
“I knew the solution was to completely cut her off from outside life and let her remain in peace in my house until she sorted out her issues. She complained of rising debts, conflict with her mother-in-law and inability to pay for her children's education,” she said.
To help her reflect on her life in peace, Ms Mungai asked her sister to deactivate her known mobile SIM card and gave her an alternative one to exclusively communicate with her.
“But on August 8 while we were in church, I noticed Wanjira leave to receive a call. It struck me as odd. I was the only one who had her new number and asked her later who she spoke with,” she said.
“Wanjira revealed to me that she was communicating with her husband about their son, who was to join secondary school.”
All appeared well until August 20 at around 8am when again Wanjira received a call from her husband.
“After she was through with the call, she became elated; a strange happiness gripped her. She told me that her husband had told her that her church’s elders had organised to visit them in their marital home to give them Sh50,000 to lessen their financial strain,” Ms Mungai told the Nation .
Mr Kabiro, who was jobless and recuperating from head surgery, had reportedly asked Wanjira to show up at their house at around 8pm to receive the cash, according to her sister.
“At around 7pm, my sister left home for the matatu stage to travel to her Karigu-ini marital home. I called her at around 9pm seeking to know whether she had arrived but I could not reach her. I decided to call her in the morning and she was out of reach too,” Ms Mungai said.
The following morning, Murang’a South police boss Alexander Shikondi received reports that a badly mutilated body had been found dumped near Kagaa Secondary School.
Kenol women traders chair Loise Wangui demands justice for murder victim Joyce Wanjira
“The naked body was in four parts — the feet cut off at the ankle and 360 degrees cut on the waist. The face had multiple sharp object incisions and there was a big dent on the head associated with blunt force,” he said.
Police took the body to the Murang’a Level Five Hospital mortuary and it was later identified to be that of Wanjira.
What has followed is an intricate investigation, with her husband topping the list of eight suspects arrested so far in connection with the woman's murder.
Others arrested are Wanjira’s sons, Joseph Mwaura, 19, and a minor who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Their 15-year-old cousin is also a suspect in police custody and Mr Kabiro’s two brothers — Paul Mwangi and Joshua Wanyoike — and two family friends, Peter Gitau and Samuel Ngigi.
Detectives are investigating claims that some of the suspects have links to the Mungiki sect, which has a base in Witeithie town, Kiambu County.
All suspects were arraigned in a Kandara court on August 23 but they did not plead to any charges after the court permitted detectives to hold them until September 6 when investigations are expected to have been completed.
Wanjira’s mother-in-law Hannah Wanjiru Mwaura, 72, has also recorded a statement.
Kandara police boss Catherine Ringera said investigations were centring on the likelihood that the murder might have been motivated by revenge, the urge to punish or cultism.
“The magnitude of the violence that was meted out on her is so elaborate and the murder rituals portray unique anger, cultism, jealousy or outright madness,” she said.
Investigative statements that the Nation has seen show that detectives are trying to place the suspects at the scene of murder.
“By 8pm, none of the suspects was in the house that is now unanimously agreed that it was the scene of crime. But all of them had congregated at their mother-in-law's house. They dispersed at 8:45pm,” the preliminary investigative report says.
“At 9pm the phone of the deceased went off. After 10pm, there was no way the deceased would have been outside her compound owing to the curfew. Her murder occurred past curfew hour.”
Of interest now is whether there was communication between her and her husband, who had told her to be home by 8pm. The phone that she was using is yet to be found by the detectives.
Detectives were also yet to secure the SIM card that she had switched off while residing with her sister to study who might have sought to reach her.
Investigations also show Wanjira could have turned up at her house as she had been directed and was hit on the head.
Police believe she was cut into pieces so that her body could fit into disposal sacks, which were transported as blood dripped from them.
“There was a trail of blood droplets from the house all the way to the dumping site,” Ms Ringera said.
She added that investigators had retrieved a blood-soiled headscarf, shoes and clothes that have been identified as those that Wanjiru was wearing when she left Thika.
These items were found tucked into a car tyre in Wanjiru’s mother-in-law’s compound, which is about 50 metres away and separated by a high perimeter fence not accessible from outside.
Also found in the compound was a blood-stained machete believed to have been used to cut up her body.
“For you to gain entry into the mother-in-law’s compound, someone from the inside must let you in…It means the two compounds and the murder are related and that is the reason we arrested all those who were in the two compounds during the night of incident,” Ms Ringera said.
She added that investigators had retrieved five mobile phones from the suspects and they were being studied for crucial leads.
