By Cyrus Ombati
The body of a university student kidnapped by people suspected to be her colleagues has been found in a coffee plantation in Kiambu.
The body of Ms Sarah Aruwa, a fourth year International Relations student at the United States International University (USIU) was discovered in Githunguri on Sunday, a day after she went missing.
And after police dumped the body at the mortuary, they did not bother to take her fingerprints to compare them with those at the central registry to help the Flying Squad team that was looking for her.
“The trend by police of picking bodies and dumping them in mortuaries without taking action on them is bad and is affecting our credibility. It is not the first time,” said one senior officer who was angered by the revelations that the body had laid unidentified at the mortuary for a week.
Hellen, the girl’s mother, told journalists they identified the body on Saturday, a week after the incident.
Ms Aruwa, 24, was kidnapped as she walked from her residence in Roysambu by men who later used her phone to call her mother demanding Sh100,000 ransom.
Police are holding three university students including two from USIU over the kidnapping and other activities targeted at female students of the college.
“She is gone but my fears are for other students if the suspects are released from custody. Because it seems that is what they have been doing, they may continue hurting many more. Courts must look into the case carefully,” said the heart broken mother.
visiting friend
Hellen said they found a note the daughter left on the table saying she was going to visit her college mate who is one of those in custody.
Hellen explained how her daughter always wrote down notes on what she intended to do and using the contacts of the friend on the note, police were able to track him down as a suspect.
She said the kidnappers had threatened to kill the girl if they did not receive the ransom.
repeated threat
Shocked by the news, she called her relatives before they informed police. The kidnappers sent a text message the following day repeating the murder threat if the money was not disbursed immediately but switched off the mobile phone soon after.
It was after the arrest of the suspects that one of them co-operated with police and hinted they had participated in the kidnapping and killing.
The gang had reportedly hired a taxi that they were using in moving around with the deceased.
Among those in custody is a girlfriend to one of the suspects who told police her boyfriend and another man dropped her in Thika on the material day and told her to find her way back to Kiambu where they stayed.
It was then that they drove to Roysambu and picked up Ms Aruwa before calling her mother.
Head of Flying Squad Munga Nyale said on Sunday they are holding people they think participated in this killing and other related incidents.
“The same group kidnapped another student at the college and demanded money in May. We are studying more evidence before they come back on Wednesday,” said Nyale.
There have been rising cases of kidnapping with police fumbling with them for lack of technology and resources to track and bring the perpetrators to book.
