Girl returns home after attack on KTN journalists

The missing girl from St. Steven’s Girls School in Machakos county (right) is hugged by her mother after she returned home today,the girl has been missing for two months.5/6/19. [Beverlyne Musili/Standard]

A 15-year-old girl said to have been missing from school for months returned home yesterday.

A search for her culminated in an attack on two ‘Standard’ journalists and a driver on Monday. A vehicle belonging to The Standard Group was also burnt. St Steven’s Girls in Machakos County, where the incident occurred, has since been closed.

The principal was charged over the incident on Tuesday.

The teenager had allegedly been missing for more than two months, but her mother said she only learnt that her daughter was not in school a few days ago.

Yesterday, the girl returned home looking withdrawn and without her school uniform.

She told her mother, Mary Mukami, and neighbours that she could not remember where she had been, who she had been with and what she was doing.

“All I remember is being in a matatu and asking a woman to pay my fare to Satellite. I took the matatu at Railways Bus Station,” she said.

Edna Kerubo, a neighbour, said she spotted the girl around 9am near her home and alerted her mother.

From her manner of dressing, the teenager showed no sign that she had been in school.  

She was wearing a purple hoodie, unfinished black trousers, and grey and red striped tank top.

Her hair looked like it had stayed for long without being straightened or brushed.

“She appeared confused and did not want to talk to us. She seemed afraid of us,” said Ms Kerubo.

Family, friends and neighbours flocked to the home to see the teenager. They sang hymns and prayed for the family. But one question lingered. Where was the teenager for the two months she went missing?

“I don’t know,” is all the girl said in answer to most of her mother’s questions.

The girl said she could not recall the day she left school, whether it was March 21 or 22. She had reported to school on March 19 with a bank slip of Sh5,000.

Then two days later, the school sent her home for fees arrears.

The teenager says she recalls leaving the school compound and even signing out at the gate. While at Makutano stage, she says she bought some water which she sipped during her journey back home. 

That is all she remembers.

Asked what she has been doing since then, she said: “Sijui. Nilikuwa tu nazunguka (I don’t know. I was just roaming around),” she said.

“Where were you roaming?”

“Sijui (I don’t know).”

“Whom were you with?”

“Sijui (I don’t know).”

On being questioned further, the teenage claimed she had been living in makeshift market stalls.

On being asked how she managed to survive, she said she survived on chapatis bought from market stalls and hotels. 

But pushed to name the hotels, she said: “Sijui (I don’t know).”

In an interview with The Standard yesterday, the girl said it was only yesterday that she remembered her way home.

The day she reported to school, on March 19, the girl’s mother says she escorted her to the bus station and made sure she boarded the matatu back to school.

“I gave her Sh1,500 for pocket money and fare when the school closed. I am not so sure she would have survived on Sh1,000 all the three months,” said Mukami.

The teenager said she left the school dressed in uniform and carrying a bag, but she has no idea where they were.

She, however, admitted that she used part of her pocket money to buy the clothes she showed up in on Wednesday.

Although she is glad her daughter is back home, Mukami said there was something different about her.

“She does not even want to talk,” said the mother.