Nakuru woman murdered in cold blood

When she was last seen on Friday, March 25, escorting her two grandchildren to a nearby school, she was well and strong.

She was said to have returned to her house in Manyani, Nakuru Town East, Nakuru County, that morning before she went missing.

A day later, her badly mutilated body was found lying in a pool of blood in a store in her compound, with the door padlocked from outside.

Who might have killed her? What was the motive? These are some of the questions the family of Ms Lucy Achieng Ngesa, a former Telkom Kenya employee, is grappling with and they hope Directorate of Criminal Investigation detectives will find the answers.

Dorothy Atieno, the owner of a shop that Ms Achieng frequented for 10 years, said she last saw her on March 25 at 8am when she went to purchase bread as usual but she did not disclose if she had any problem.

Missed daily prayers

She learned about her disappearance on Saturday through Ms Achieng’s church mates, who were looking for her after she failed to attend their daily prayers on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

“It was strange that she was missing yet she never went to anybody's house and I was with her on Friday morning when she came to my shop. They just told me that she was missing, but they never told me who informed them about her disappearance,” Ms Atieno said.

“I joined them and we searched for her in the compound with other people, but it never occurred to us to check in the store because it was padlocked, and it was just calm, you could not suspect anything.”

Police in Nakuru said the matter was being investigated by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Investigations underway

“I am aware of the matter. We have already handed over the murder probe to investigators to establish who killed her and the motive behind her killing. They have already started the investigations,” said Nakuru East sub-county Police Commander Ellena Kabukuru.

A senior detective told the Nation that data from the woman’s mobile phone would help in the investigations.

“We are analysing her mobile phone data to establish whom she last communicated with before she went missing. So far we are making good progress in the investigations,” revealed the detective, who sought anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

Ms Atieno, the shopkeeper, said five church members proceeded to Nakuru Level Five Hospital to check if she had gone there. They also checked at the mortuary.

At 4pm, the five came back and told the shopkeeper that they had been informed Ms Achieng’s body was spotted in a store adjacent to her house.

Found body

She said that after the church members broke the window they saw the body of Ms Achieng and called police, who came and picked up the body.

“Her aunt used to live here but she also died after falling sick. Achieng took over and started living here. She was a good woman. I wonder who killed her and the reason behind it,” Ms Atieno said.

“There is not a single day she ever quarrelled with anyone. We are just hearing word going round it might be the plot (where she lived) that might have caused all this.”

Ms Achieng's younger brother, Mr Michael Odhiambo, said she worked for Telkom from 1992 until she was retrenched in 2008 and moved to Nakuru. She lived in Shabaab estate before moving to Manyani.

He said Ms Achieng lived with her two grandchildren, aged three and five, after their mother, who is her second-born, travelled outside Kenya for work.

Mr Odhiambo said the family was told by a tenant that their sister was missing and later on Saturday evening the same person informed them that her body had been found in a store.

Neighbours told the family that Ms Achieng had complained that the tenant had knocked at her door at 3am on Thursday and informed her that some visitors were looking for her.

But she refused to open the door and asked them to come back after sunrise.

“There is a lot going on. We don’t know whom we should believe. The tenant told us she saw our sister speaking with a strange person that Friday morning but never divulged more,” Mr Odhiambo said.

Padlock changed

“We were also told that the door had been locked with a small padlock but by Saturday the padlock had been changed. We just want the police to speed up the investigation and bring her killers to book.”

Her son Rodney Onyango, 32, said his mother’s head had been broken in, while her neck, stomach and forehead had deep cuts.

Her eyes had been gouged out while her hands and legs were tied.

“There is a small issue about this land with a neighbour but it had not reached a point where they fought. We were just told it was only verbal exchanges. The neighbour even removed a fence that had been erected without giving reasons. We don’t know and we can’t say she is responsible,” said Mr Odhiambo

Her former workmate and longtime friend, Ms Catherine Boyani, said they were good friends until they parted ways after she was transferred to Malindi in 1997 from Nakuru while Ms Achieng was transferred to Kisumu.

Jovial and tough woman

She said Ms Achieng was a jovial and tough woman who loved her family.

Because Ms Achieng was the firstborn in her family, Ms Boyani said, she had to take care of her siblings when her mother died.

“I never knew she was in Nakuru. The last time we spoke she was in Kisumu. We just pray that her killers are brought to book before we bury her,” she said.

“We are fearing for her son's life; they might come for him. We really want to know what they wanted from her. She was tough and her killers must have had a rough time putting her down. She was very strong; I don’t think it was one person who did all this.”

Her body was moved to the Nakuru mortuary. She will be buried in Homa Bay County.

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