Mercy Wanjiru Kimani was from church when she was invited for a birthday party later in the day at a bar along Mombasa Road, Nairobi.
It appeared like any ordinary plan and just a spontaneous outing with friends. She accepted. But that would be the last time her family saw her alive and well.
Hours later, she was found unconscious nearly three kilometres from the club, with a deep cut to the head, wounds to the lower abdomen, and both arms broken. She was rushed to a dispensary in Mukuru before being transferred to Thika Level 4 Hospital, where she later succumbed.
The 23-year-old, according to the family, was invited to the celebration by a friend on January 18. But what began as a night out, they say, quickly turned into a nightmare when she failed to return home.
Mercy Wanjiru Kimani.
Photo credit: Pool
After days of searching, they found her hospitalised and fighting for her life in the ICU at Thika Level 4 hospital.
“She had been at the hospital for three months and one week,” her mother, Zipporah Kimani, narrated. She oscillated between getting better and plunging to the worst before succumbing to her injuries on April 23.
CCTV footage seen by Nation shows Mercy enjoying her time with friends in the club. She is later seen speaking with a bodaboda rider. But moments later, the rider is seen picking up a client, leaving Mercy at the spot.
Much of the footage shows that she was mostly on her phone. Her distraught sister, Caroline Wanjiku, says their lastborn did not appear drunk in the footage.
What happened between the moment she walked into the club and the time she was found lying injured by the roadside remains a painful mystery. But her family believes that the missing piece of time is where the truth lies.
“We really want to know what happened to our sister,” Caroline pleaded. “We’re seeking justice for Mercy.”
Now, as the family is engulfed in grief, they are also gripped by a growing fear that justice may be slow, or worse, out of reach.
Mercy Wanjiru Kimani.
Photo credit: Pool
“We had reported the matter to DCI too, and we were allocated an officer. But she never really took the matter seriously. Every time we contacted her, the response was "let's wait for the girl to wake up, and she can tell us what really happened".
They have never interrogated any of the ladies who were at the party, not even the one who invited her,” the family told Nation . We really believe that with the number of CCTV cameras along Mombasa Road, we can get to know what really transpired that day.”
She was a reserved but affable sister, Caroline said of Mercy. She was always glued to her phone, and so long as there was data, as a typical Gen-Z, she was okay.
Mercy had wanted to become a nurse; in the meantime, her family said, she was trying to build a life for herself, selling clothes online and finding her footing.
