Our daughter jumped from fourth floor to avoid wedding terrorist - family reveals after girl commits suicide

The family of a teenage girl who jumped from the fourth floor of building in Eastleigh say their daughter was escaping from an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) agent after five days of captivity.

The 16-year-old (name withheld for her safety), is recovering at a city hospital following serious injuries she sustained when she jumped from the fourth floor of a motel where she had been help by a suspected ISIS operative named Ahmed Ali, according to records at the boarding place.

The man, whose other alias is Adan Mohamed Mohamud, was tracked down by police and arrested for abduction.

The teenage girl is a form-four student who is preparing to sit for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at a girls’ school in Taita. She left the school on May 4 after getting permission to seek treatment for an illness.

But what transpired at the health facility where she sought treatment and how she ended up at Alfrogan Lodging along Seventh Street in Eastleigh remains a puzzle police and family are trying to unravel.

Relatives and detectives suspect the girl was spellbound and then led all the way to Nairobi.

But even as her father Omar and uncle Maalim Ali maintain their girl was an ISIS target, police downplayed the issue, treating it as an abduction whose motive they are trying to establish.

Stop speculating

Starehe OCPD Benard Nyakakwa and the DCIO Kiberenge Seroney, cautioned against speculation, saying it was too early to link the incident to ISIS – an Islamic extremist terrorist group associated with jihadism.

“Where is this information of ISIS emanating? The information we have so far is that a suspect is in custody facing abduction charges, which may change depending on the condition of the girl in hospital,” said Seroney.

Ali said the suspect had confessed to conducting HIV and pregnancy tests on her niece, acts that are making them strongly believe it was an attempt to recruit the girl into terrorism.

“The information we are getting is that the ISIS demand these tests to be done. We are told they also check the girls’ virginity because they want somebody who is very clean,” revealed the Nairobi businessman.

The suspect had no Kenyan national identity card, passport or alien documentation, but has relatives in Eastleigh who were hosting him. When he walked into Alfrogan Lodge, he reportedly told workers the girl was his sister who was paying him a visit.

For five days, the workers recounted how Ahmed came everyday with breakfast, lunch and supper for the girl. The man would stay longer in the room in the evening before leaving the girl.

“We don’t know if she locked our daughter inside and left with the key,” said Ali.

The girl, who is in the High Dependency Unit (HDU), has not disclosed much to her mother who is constantly at her bedside.

The suspect had bought her new dresses in place of her school uniform, which police found in her room. On the night of May 20, she jumped through the widow, shocking workers who called local Administration Police officers for assistance as the unconscious girl was rushed to Medina Hospital for first aid.

Safe in school

Her parents live in Taita where they operate a small-scale business. All this time, they were sure their child was safe in school.

On the fateful day when their daughter got injured, her mother received a call from a medic who wanted to know whether she knew an individual going by the name the suspect had used to book her into the hotel.

“She told the caller none of her daughters was called that. But my wife was shocked when she heard our daughter murmuring in the background,” said Omar.

Both husband and wife immediately travelled to Nairobi, linking up with Ali who had already made arrangements for the girl to be transferred to a better hospital.

Relatives of the suspect who appeared in court on May 25 are said to be exerting pressure on the girl’s family to settle the matter out of court.

But her family is demanding for justice, and insist that their daughter sensed danger and opted to kill herself instead.

“There was no relationship and that is why she chose to commit suicide instead of joining ISIS,” said Ali.

The following day, as was his routine, Ahmed, the suspect, did not check at the lodging in the morning, prompting police to set a trap.

One of the hotel workers called to inform him that he was needed urgently since his ‘sister’ was severely ill.

He was arrested on arrival.