Pastor to court: Murdered student's phone was in church offertory bag
Erick Mutinda Philip is charged with murdering girlfriend Sylvia Kemunto.
A city preacher has told the High Court in Kibera that the mobile phone belonging to slain Multimedia University of Kenya student Sylvia Kemunto Ayaye was recovered from a church offertory bag.
Testifying in the murder trial of Erick Mutinda Philip, the former boyfriend of the murder victim, before Justice Diana Kavedza, Pastor Hannah Faith Mukami said the phone was emptied from the bag when offerings were being counted.
Pastor Mukami, who is also the church administrator at Jesus Is Alive Ministries (JIAM), said the Oppo phone was recovered on April 2, 2025.
"After recovering the phone we kept it in safe custody until police officers came looking for it," she told the court.
Under cross-examination by a defence lawyer, the pastor confirmed that the phone presented in court was the one recovered from the offertories.
Mr Mutinda has denied murdering Ms Ayaye on March 30, 2025 at Multimedia University, and dumping her body in a tank on the roof of the school's building.
Search ends at a rooftop tank
The university's chief security officer, Silas Ochieng Otieno, recounted how the institution received a report of Ms Ayaye's disappearance and cooperated with police in efforts to trace her.
"Upon receiving the information about the missing student, we searched everywhere, including the bushes surrounding the university, in vain," Mr Otieno recalled.
He said a security officer asked him whether they should check the tanks on the roof of the building. A search team went up to the roof, where they found that one of the tanks had been tampered with and a stone placed on its lid.
"We opened the tank and lo to our shock and bewilderment we saw the body of the missing student inside the tank," Mr Otieno said.
While photos of the scene were being identified in court, Ms Ayaye's mother was overcome by grief and began to wail. A court orderly escorted her to a waiting room until the session was over.
Witnesses cross-examined by lawyers Danstan Omari, Martina Swiga and Stanley Kinyanjui, who appeared for the victim's family, recounted the horrifying scene as the body was retrieved from the tank. Police who were alerted to the discovery took over the scene, where the mother identified the body as her daughter's.
'Toxic' relationship
A student, Neununa Mounira Namatsi, described Ms Ayaye as her close friend and classmate and recounted her attempts to reach her after she went missing.
Ms Namatsi also told the court that the relationship between Ms Ayaye and the accused had become toxic. She said Ms Ayaye had confided that the accused was mistreating her, and that she had at one point considered moving to a hostel outside the university to avoid encounters with him. However, Ms Ayaye's mother reportedly advised her to remain at the university until the end of her studies.
Another student, Derrick Higai Luther, who shared a hostel room with the accused, gave an account of their accommodation arrangements and interactions with university security personnel during the period under investigation.
Meghan Nasserian Kihara, who had previously shared a room with Ms Ayaye, testified about what she knew of the victim and the information she received after discovery of the body. She said Ms Ayaye had confided to her that her relationship with the accused was not good.
The hearing continues.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.
