Missing person : Did Nyeri student elope with ‘lover’?

A city family is agonising over their missing secondary school daughter suspected to have walked into marriage in protest against corporal punishment meted on her and two classmates.

Christine Wanjiru Wachira, a form-three student at Gathungururu Girls School in Nyeri is said to have sneaked out in anger, despite caution from the administration and her father on June 2, after she and her two classmates were punished for noise making.

The punishment involved tending to crops on school farm – a form of punishment that allegedly infuriated the trio to the point of seeking time out, which the administration declined to grant.

Wanjiru called her father, Patrick Ndege, at around 5.30 pm to express her frustration and intention to travel to Nairobi that evening.

“She was complaining that she was not happy with the punishment. She said she was not going to spend another night in the school. I implored her not to travel because it was already late and promised to pay her a visit the following day,” recalls Ndege.

Earlier, before Wanjiru placed the call to her dad, the school secretary had already phoned the father of two informing him about the stubbornness of his first born daughter, who has been raised in Nairobi’s Kayole estate.

When Ndege travelled to the school the following day, he learnt that his daughter had sneaked out the previous evening at around 6pm in the company of her classmate with whom they had been punished.

However, the other girl returned to school later in the evening, while the whereabouts of Wanjiru remained unknown.

After consulting with the school’s head, Ann Muchiri, the father agreed to search for his daughter among close relatives and family friends.

Meanwhile, the school administration reported the missing person matter at the Mukurwe-ini Police Station.

 A dejected and worried Ndege returned to the school on June 10, hoping to find his daughter. But this was never to be.

Wanjiru’s classmate, after thorough probing by authorities, disclosed some vital clues, which Ndege hopes will lead to him to his daughter’s whereabouts.

Wanjiru had reportedly confided in some classmates that she was dating her boyfriend and a sugar daddy.

The revelations forced the class teacher and Ndege to break into Wanjiru’s locker, where they came across an address book containing a list of telephone contacts, including those of close family members.

They picked three numbers of men they suspected could be behind Wanjiru’s disappearance.

Two turned out negative, while the other number has since been switched off after a male voice promised to ‘release’ Wanjiru.

A teacher had pretended to be one of Wanjiru’s classmates wishing to meet her.

The receiver, according to Ndege, promised to revert back after relaying the message to Wanjiru.

But an hour later, they received a brief message that read “hi, am ok” before the phone was switched off.

“The tone of the SMS made us believe it originated from my daughter,” says Ndege.

Through the M-Pesa service, they managed to obtain the name of the man suspected to have eloped with the 17-year-old girl, described by the father as disciplined and obedient.

“I just want to get my daughter back. If this man is with her, he should come, introduce himself officially and ask for my blessings if marriage is what he is after because I can’t force her to do want she doesn’t want or stay in school. It is unbearable living in suspense not knowing where your child is and what could be happening to her,” explains Ndege.

He reported the matter at Kayole Police Station, where he hoped detectives would track the number of the suspect.