‘My husband left for work, is yet to return’

Joyce Njeri is a worried woman. She has not seen or heard from her husband, Hudson Mwangi who was a taxi driver based in Nyeri town, since February 13 this year.

According to Njeri, on that day, she and her husband woke up early and by 7.30am had prepared their two boys aged seven and two years for school.

Once Njeri saw her children off to the school bus, she and her husband got into the taxi and drove to town.

“He was employed as a taxi driver and while the car was not his, we would drive into work together when he had the vehicle. He would drop me off at work and then head to the Taxi Bay outside Naivas Supermarket,” she said.

It was a normal day for Hudson and his colleagues until about 3pm when one of his regular clients came looking for him. When he found Hudson was not in, he agreed to take another taxi from the same station.

On their way to the client’s destination, they saw a group of people and police at Gatitu Shopping Centre surrounding a vehicle which was off the side of the road with its doors wide open. Upon closer inspection, they realised it was Hudson’s vehicle and the taxi driver called his colleagues, told them what he had seen and asked them to confirm Mwangi’s whereabouts.

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“I remained unaware that my husband was missing. I called him at 6pm but the phone went straight to voice mail. I did not think anything of it so I passed by the market picked up some groceries and went home to cook for the family,” Njeri said.

She continued: “ At about 7.30pm, a friend of my husband called and asked me if I was with my husband. I said I had not seen him all day but I would try to call him.”

After several attempts trying to reach Hudson, she called his friend back and it was then she learnt that her husband’s taxi had been discovered abandoned. He offered to take me to the scene to confirm if it was his car.

“We arrived at the scene where the taxi was and I found his ID and driving license in the car. His jacket was in the back seat and there was no blood or any signs of a struggle but my husband was missing,” she says.

Efforts to locate her husband since the incident have proven exhausting both emotionally and physically.

“We have lived together since 2010 and he has never taken an impromptu trip without letting me know. I am also certain he would not leave his taxi abandoned unless something or someone forced him to,” she said.

Trying to keep hope alive for her children she continues to make weekly visits to the Nyeri Police Station and the County General Hospital looking for her husband.

“I do not know what happened to him or where he could be but this mystery is tormenting my family. Whether dead or alive I would prefer to know where he is than spend the rest of my life searching for my beloved husband,” Njeri said.