Two people suspected of killing four-year-old David Ndung’u and dumping his body at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital morgue have been arrested.
Detectives from the Homicide and Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) pounced on Phylis Njeri and her husband in Illasit village, Kajiado County, near the Kenya-Tanzania border.
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti said detectives acted on information circulating on social media about the boy’s murder.
“Investigations were launched immediately, unearthing gory details of how David was brutally murdered by Njeri and her husband Jackson Ngui, while David’s horrified elder brother Peter Ndung’u watched in shock,” Mr Kinoti said.
The police, he said, traced the two to the remote village as they desperately sought to cross the border to Tanzania.
“Further forensic analysis conducted at the couple’s house in Kwa Maji area within Mowlem, in Kamukunji sub-county, revealed that the baby was killed in the house before his body was dumped at Mama Lucy Kibaki’s Hospital mortuary.”
“Upon realising the gravity of their actions, the murderous couple had desperately attempted to seek medication at local chemists but the little angel was long gone,” a statement from the DCI read.
A postmortem report indicated that David’s body had severe burns in both hands, legs and buttocks. It also had fresh injuries in the neck, back and face.
DCI says that detectives based at the National Forensic Laboratory and their scene-of-crime counterparts will visit the couple’s house to collect more evidence.
Phyllis Njeri, a suspect in the murder of 3-year-old baby, David Ndung'u
Photo credit: Courtesy | DCI
David and Peter were left under the care of Ms Njeri by their mother Maureen Njoki, who left Kenya in November last year to work as a house help in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Njoki, in an interview with journalist Lynn Ngugi, narrated how, four months after her departure to Saudi Arabia, a friend sent her pictures of David and told her that his body had been found at Mama Lucy Hospital.
The distraught mother expressed disappointment at how police had handled the matter, saying that they had failed to arrest the suspect and the caretaker of the house where the murder was committed.
“The caretaker asked Peter to clean up the blood in the house and she did not make any report to the police,” she said.
In an interview with Nation on Wednesday morning, Maureen said the arrest of the two has sparked hope that David would finally find justice.
“I have seen the pictures shared by the DCI and I have confirmed that she is the one they arrested. I am relieved and although I cannot bring my poor baby back to life, at least he will find justice,” Maureen told Nation.Africa.
“I did not know Jackson. I have never met him, but those who know him have also seen the DCI pictures and they have positively recognized him,” she said.
By press time, DCI was transporting the two suspects to Nairobi. They will be arraigned on Thursday.
