Police bungle murder investigations

By Job Weru

On September 18, 2005, Nancy Gachebu called her neighbour in Unjiru village, Mathira West District and informed her she was headed to Meru to sell her Nissan pickup truck.

The neighbour was asked to pass this information to Gachebu’s mother Mrs Monica Nyathogora, who was expecting her home that evening from Kerugoya where she was a businesswoman.

Gachebu, 32, was never seen again or heard until over a month later when Nyathogora and her family received reports that her daughter’s extensively burnt body had been discovered at Isiolo District Hospital Mortuary.

"Gachebu was to report home after selling off her vehicle, but what followed was an endless journey of looking for her murderers," she says.

Regrettably up to date, her murderers are still free after CID officers from Meru bungled the investigations even after they recovered the vehicle and held a suspect. The vehicle was recovered from a man who allegedly bought it from the man who had accompanied Gachebu to Meru.

Suspicious Women

Nyathogora and her son Joseph Gathagu say they have been running from one police station to another in Kerugoya and Meru and are yet to get any assistance.

"She called Mama Ken, a neighbour, and told her to inform us that she would not come home since she was to proceed to Meru on a business trip," Gathagu recalls. He says that after receiving the message, he called his sister who told him that a Kerugoya based businessman, who was later said to have sold out the vehicle, had identified a buyer for her pickup.

"She added that the businessman, whom I knew well, would also accompany her to Meru,"

Gathagu says. She was in tomato selling business and was also a dealer in old vehicles.

For a few years that she conducted her businesses, Gachebu had grown into a famous businesswoman within Kerugoya town and Gikomba market where she sold tomatoes.

Ms Monica Muthoni who was her neighbour at Inoi and Site Estates in Kerugoya for about seven years termed her a social person and accommodative.

On the morning of September 18, Muthoni recalls meeting Gachebu at the gate, together with a watchman identified as Kiamwenja.

"The watchman was cleaning the pickup, and she told me we would meet later in the day as she was headed to Meru. I wished her a safe journey and proceeded to church," she recalls.

According to a statement recorded by a witness with the police, Gachebu went to Meru where the alleged buyer was. A man, who identified himself as Ephraim, met her in a hotel alongside the broker. The witness said Gachebu called and intimated to him that she felt uneasy, since two women who were at a nearby table in the restaurant looked at her suspiciously.

Suspect Released

That was the last time she was seen alive. Hours after she left the restaurant, Gachebu’s body was found at a roadside near Isiolo town. A postmortem report dated November 16, 2005 indicated that the body had a head injury, while many internal organs were extensively burned.

Dr Moses Njue who conducted the postmortem at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital indicated that the death would have been caused by the head injury and burning. CID officers in Meru Central arrested the broker, but later released him before he was charged.

"We do not understand how he was released, bearing in mind that many witnesses alleged he was in her company," says Gathagu.

Gathagu proceeded to then Internal Security Minister John Michuki about a year later and complained over the manner in which the investigations were handled. In a letter drawn by Michuki’s then Personal Assistant George Natembeya to Deputy Director of CID Mr Peter Kavila, Gathagu claimed the broker was released under suspicious circumstances.

Officers Playing Games

"The family of the deceased swear they have sufficient evidence to sustain the murder charge against the suspect," read the letter dated August 1, 2006.

But even after the intervention, the CID in Meru, led by a Mr Ndei, took no action.

"They kept calling us to their offices and even lied to us that they had rearrested the suspect and would arraign him in court," laments Gachebu’s mother.

She continues: "We have now been left penniless and without anyone to run to. My daughter was murdered but police carried the investigations in a questionable manner."

She says that although her family intended to follow up investigations, they were not able due to lack of funds.

"Gachebu was our breadwinner. My youngest son even dropped out of school due to lack of fees," she says.

She has now been left without anybody to turn to since her eldest son Gathagu was employed in Gachebu’s tomato business, and is now unemployed.