A family’s pain after daughter, baby found dead in Ngong forest

Peter Ndung'u and Elizabeth Kanini, the parents of Susan Kaondu whose body was found along with that of her son in Ngong Forest. [PHOTOS: DAVID NJAAGA/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: Sitting on a stone with her face buried in her hands, Elizabeth Kanini, 45, mourns the brutal murders of her 17-year-old daughter and her two-year-old grandson days after the disappearance of her newborn grandson.

Ms Kanini wants police to speed up investigations into the killings of Susan Kaondu and her two-year-old son Jesse Kinyua, whose bodies were discovered on Monday in Ngong Forest. The mother's body was slumped on the child who was still strapped on her back.

The killings have added to the family's grief as three weeks ago, Kaondu's newborn went missing.

Kanini is a casual labourer, and so was her daughter Kaondu, and together they lived in a tiny room built with rusty iron sheets in Karen Plains. Kanini's son, 20-year-old Philip Kaleli, lives in the adjacent room.

Mother and daughter would wake up at 4am to venture into the affluent Karen neighbourhood in search of manual work to earn a living.

It is a humble family, struggling to get by but hopeful that some day their fortunes, too, would improve and they would afford a lifestyle that for now they can only dream of - a life in the elegantly designed houses and towering apartments in adjacent area.

"She used to come to Karen Plains shops where I work. We would spend time together, with her helping me run a few errands whenever I needed a hand," Kanini recalls.

But since the disappearance of her baby, Kaondu had been unable to go out for the routine tasks, devoting her time to the elusive search of her loved one.

Kanini recalls on Monday evening when her daughter's body was discovered by a herdsman in the vast Ngong Forest, a few kilometres away from their home. They were to meet earlier in the day at the shopping centre.

The routine was broken when she got a call from Kaleli, who operates a boda boda, informing her that a neighbour had identified Kaondu's body deep in the forest.

Mr Kaleli says he got a phone call from a neighbour who told him that a woman who resembled his sister and a child had been found dead and he needed to rush there as soon as he could.

"When I got there, I recognised her immediately. It was my sister Kaondu, and strapped on her back was Jesse," said Kaleli.

He says the woman had scratch marks on her neck and she was heaped on top of her little son.

Kaleli describes what followed as one of the most traumatic  experiences he has ever had to go through.

He had to call his parents and inform them that his sister was lying lifeless in the forest. After breaking the grim news, he had to fetch his mother from her place of work with his motorcycle to take her to the scene.

"I carried my crying mother on my motorcycle and took her to the scene. It was terrible. I was shaking and it is with great difficulty that we got to Ngong Forest safely," he explains fighting back tears.

He then gazes at his mother who has been overcome by emotions and behind his spectacles, tears begin to form in his eyes.

SNEAK IN

Kaondu's mysterious death is not the only cause of anguish to the family. Before she died, her three-week-old baby girl disappeared last month.

"Susan's newborn just disappeared from the house. Nobody knows who took her and before she died, she was claiming that the baby's father Steve could have sneaked in and taken her," says Kaleli.

He says they feel like everything is crumbling because they have so many questions. They neither know whom the killers are nor do they know where the baby she brought home barely a month ago disappeared to.

"It's been a series of losses...I don't know what is happening," said the mother.

Kaondu's father, Peter Ndung'u's gaze was fixed on the ground the entire time The Standard spent with the family. He did not utter a word, occasionally wiping tears from his eyes when his daughter's name was mentioned.

"He is overwhelmed by everything because it happened too fast," says Kaleli in an attempt to explain his father's grief.

Lang'ata Officer Commanding Police Division Elija Mwangi said they are working on the case and will ensure the family gets answers and justice. "We have not known the motive and those behind the murders. Officers from Homicide section are on the case to establish those behind it," said Mr Mwangi.

He added that they have interrogated some of the family members.