Kenyatta family kin murdered at her Hurlinghum home

By CYRUS OMBATI and JOSEPHAT SIROR

The Kenyatta family and friends are in mourning following the murder of a Nairobi lawyer at her house in Nairobi by gunmen on Friday night.

Ms Rose Waruinge, a cousin of the former First Family, was shot dead at point blank range on her bed by gunmen, who stormed her house in Hurlinghum at about 9pm.

Distraught family members said the gang of six also assaulted her daughters and friends before escaping towards Nairobi’s Yaya Centre.

Several relatives, among them Mama Ngina Kenyatta and Ms Margaret Kenyatta, who is Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s sister, visited the home to condole with family.

Reading a bible

Police said Waruinge was relaxing in her bedroom when the gang struck at about 9pm.

She is suspected to have been reading a Bible, which police found next to her body when they arrived at the scene minutes after the gang had escaped in her white Subaru Impreza.

Police said the gang demanded money as they held those present hostage in separate rooms. Some of them stormed into Ms Waruinge’s bedroom where they held her captive for a few minutes as they demanded money before shooting her at close range leaving the body lying next to the bed.

The gang also assaulted a group of family friend’s girls who were relaxing in the living room with a son of the victim. They were taken to hospital where they are recuperating.

The motive of the shooting and attack is not yet clear, but police say the gang carried some household items with them as they escaped.

Ms Waruinge was a long-serving member and official with the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). LSK condemned the incident and called for investigations.

"We cannot speculate, but we want the police to move fast and bring culprits to book," said LSK Chief Executive Officer Apollo Mboya, who was among lawyers who visited the house of the deceased.

Mboya expressed shock that the incident only happened few months after another lawyer, Anthony Nahashon Ngunjiri, was shot in the city.