'Forced abortion': Varsity student death file now with DPP
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.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) has taken up the case of the 22-year-old Dedan Kimathi University of Technology student who died as a result of a suspected forced abortion.
The matter is yet to be concluded since Regina Wairimu, a fourth-year student pursuing telecommunication and electrical engineering, died on February 12.
Detectives have been investigating the matter, even as Wairimu’s family continues pushing for justice for their daughter.
Nyeri County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss John Gacheru on Wednesday told Nation.Africa that he had forwarded the matter to the ODPP.
“I have taken the matter to the ODPP for perusal and the office will give us the way forward,” Mr Gacheru said on phone.
“The matter is not concluded. Yes, we conducted our investigations, but they are still ongoing,” he added.
According to Article 157 (6) (a) of the Constitution: “The Director of Public Prosecutions shall exercise state powers of prosecution and may- (a) institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court (other than a court martial) in respect of any offence alleged to have been committed”.
Wairimu’s father, Mr Kenneth Kinyanjui, told Nation.Africa that the delay to conclude the matter has affected the family emotionally and that they have been making frantic calls to the DCI with no response.
“We have not received any information from the DCI and we have even been contemplating taking the matter to the DCI headquarters. I think that would be the solution because we want justice by all means for our daughter. You can imagine how I feel daily when my phone calls are not being picked up by detectives. We are also approaching our local politicians for help,” Mr Kinyanjui said.
“This issue has disturbed us and I can tell you that we are really suffering. As we speak, my wife has been in a critical condition since the day she received the bad news. Her health is deteriorating and she has been crying daily. We just want justice, that’s all,” he added.
Post-mortem
On February 17, Dr Bill Muriuki conducted a post-mortem on Wairimu’s body, as well as on the foetus.
“The uterus contains products of conception … placenta seen … walls of the uterus have multiple lesions seen,” says the report.
It continues: “As a result of my examination, I formed the opinion that the cause of death was as a result of severe hemorrhage.”
Wairimu had requested a deferment of studies from January to September 2023.
At the start of the deferment, her postnatal clinic records show that she was 7.5 months pregnant, and in one of her notebooks is a Valentine’s day message that read: “To my unborn son … I love you. My Baby Daddy is bringing complications since he is powerful and influential … But I must give birth to you and show you momma love.”
According to a police signal shared with Nation.Africa, a woman – whose name is withheld due to the ongoing investigations – reported that her friend Wairimu had succumbed to abortion as she was being taken for treatment to the Nyeri County Referral hospital.
It stated that police officers visited the scene where Wairimu was prior to the incident at the woman’s house in Kangemi, Nyeri town.
“Police officers established that the deceased spent the previous night at the reportee’s house together with another female friend until around 2am when she complained of abdominal pain. They rushed her for treatment at Dedan Kimathi health facility then Nyeri County Referral Hospital where she was pronounced dead,” the police signal read.
The signal also revealed that the scene had stains of blood on the carpet and a dead full term male foetus in a black hand bag.
The two female friends carried Wairimu’s luggage while taking her for treatment.
“The scene was processed and the body with no visible injuries and foetus removed to Nyeri County Referral Hospital mortuary,” the report continues.
The two women were questioned by the DCI before being released.
Wairimu and her baby were buried in one casket in Macegeca village at Kandara constituency in Murang’a County, with her parents demanding justice.
“If it was an abortion she needed, we are not a poor family and she could have tricked us into sending her money. In fact, I had on Thursday sent her Sh7,000, and that Saturday, she had paid the hostel she was staying in. She could not have sought a study deferment of nine months so as to go seeking a crude abortion. After all the lies that her friends peddled, it is now time for the truth,” said her mother, Ms Wambui, after the death of her daughter.
Her father said: “This whole issue reeks of manipulation, stage management and a deliberate push to sell a narrative that is illogical, illiterate and outright unacceptable and for justice. We as a family are ready to pawn the last of our heritage”.
He said that the university did not notify him that his daughter had applied for a deferment of studies. “I only came to be shown the application when she was already dead,” he said.
