How ‘couple from hell’ left friend's baby dead and fled

A dramatic search for a couple who had reportedly killed a toddler that had been left under their care by a friend ended yesterday after they were arrested as they attempted to flee to Tanzania.

Phylis Njeri and her boyfriend Jackson Ngui are said to have brutally murdered David Ndungu, 3, as his elder brother watched helplessly. They later dumped the body at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Kayole.

The mother of the two boys, Ms Maureen Njoki, had left Kenya for Saudi Arabia in November last year, where she had secured a job as a house-help. She had initially left his children with her grandmother but had them transferred after being informed that they were being mistreated.

In an interview whose video has gone viral, Ms Njoki told journalist Lynn Ngugi that her grandmother cut off communication due to financial demands that she could not meet. The children were first taken by their father, but he could not watch over them well because of the demands of his job as a casual labourer.

Ms Njoki later approached Ms Njeri for help, who was well known to the family. Everything seemed to be going on well until the end of January when Ms Njoki was unable to send money to Ms Njeri for the boys’ upkeep because her salary had delayed.

Ms Njoki was to send Sh13,000 every month to cater for shopping, laundry and a stipend for Ms Njeri for taking care of her children.

During this time, the boy’s father, who had gone to visit them, was informed by the children that they were not being allowed to sit on Ms Njeri’s couches like the rest of the family members. Ms Njoki sent cash to her husband for two plastic chairs for the children.

Also read: Police arrest father in baby's murder

“I sent her a message, ‘did their father bring them plastic chairs?’ The message was received but it was ignored,” said Ms Njoki, on how she discovered that there was a problem.

From that point, communication with the caretaker of her two boys became frosty. Her requests to speak with the children on phone did not yield fruit until February 24 when one of Ms Njoki’s friends called her with bad news.

According to the friend, David was at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital. Ms Njoki tried to call Ms Njeri to find out what ailment her son was suffering from, but failed to reached her. Frustrated, she asked other friends to go to the hospital and look for David.

The friends could not find the boy’s name on the hospital register. They were told by staff to try their luck at the mortuary, where they were confronted with bad news. According to the mortuary’s records, the body had been brought in by a Perris Njeri but the phone number listed on the file belonged to Phyllis Njeri.

The news of how David met his death sparked outrage on social media two weeks ago with Kenyans using the hashtag #JusticeforBabyDavid to demand action from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). A postmortem carried out on the body showed that he had severe burns on both legs, hands and buttocks. One of his teeth was missing.

According to the DCI, Ms Njeri and her boyfriend ran away from their house in Mowlem, Nairobi, after killing David. They hid at a friend’s house in Nairobi for a week before attempting to make the escape to Tanzania.

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Unbeknown to them, a special squad from the Homicide and Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) had already been formed and was on their trail. The CRIB team started tracking signals and calls from Ms Njeri and her boyfriend’s mobile phones, plus their financial transactions.

Meanwhile, the homicide team went to the house where it is believed David was murdered and began questioning the neighbours and the caretaker of the property, who was apparently asked by Ms Njeri to wipe the boy’s blood from the floor after his murder and told to keep quiet.

“The detectives also recovered a whip that was used to assault the deceased’s elder brother who was beaten senselessly and threatened with dire consequences should he reveal what had happened to his brother,” said DCI George Kinoti yesterday.

As this was happening, Ms Njeri and Mr Ngui arrived at Illasit village, Kajiado County, near the Kenya-Tanzania border. They reportedly started sorting out logistical issues, while trying to get a smuggler who could help them to the other side of the border.

They were, however, caught off guard and arrested yesterday morning by detectives and driven to Nairobi, where they will be questioned before being presented to court this morning. 

The DCI is expected to make a miscellaneous application seeking to detain them for a few days as investigations are concluded.

“Detectives based at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory, biology division and their scenes of crime counterparts shall be visiting the couple’s house for further DNA analysis of the scene, to obtain more scientific evidence for a watertight case against the suspects,” said the DCI.

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