University student raped, murdered

By Cyrus Ombati

A 21-year old university student was raped and murdered in a bizarre incident in her apartment in Mbotela area, Nairobi.

The First year purchasing and supplies student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural Technology Edna Mogambi’s body was found hidden under her bed two days after she was murdered.

Edna was killed on Sunday by unknown assailants and her body hidden under her bed. Her corpse was discovered on Monday night by her sister.

A prime suspect in the murder has been arrested and according to police, he has confessed to the same.

Postmortem report conducted on her body at the Chiromo Mortuary showed she was raped and her head had been hit with a blunt object that led to profuse bleeding.

There was a pool of blood under the bed where the body was discovered on Monday night.

The deceased’s elder sister Nancy spent the night on the same bed where Edna’s body was hidden without knowledge it was there.

Nancy wept uncontrollably on Wednesday as she narrated how she waited for Edna to arrive home in vain only for her to spot her toes under the bed on Monday night.

Nancy said she left their apartment at Posta Apartments along Jogoo Road on Sunday afternoon for Ongata Rongai and was to return in the evening.

"I left her in the house but at about 6.30pm I received a text message from her (Edna) saying a neighbour was forcing himself into her room and wanted to rape her."

"When I tried to call back, her phone had gone off. I tried to call another neighbour that she told me in the text to alert but that man’s phone too was off," said Nancy.

Nancy is a law student at Kenyatta University Parklands Campus while her deceased sister was taking a course at the JKUAT Karen Campus.

She added she arrived back at their apartment on Sunday at about 9pm but did find Edna. She tried to call her but her mobile phone was not going through.

Before she went to bed, she placed the house keys at a window where they normally leave them.

On Monday morning she found the keys where she had left them and without any suspicion she went to college until 5pm when she returned home.

"Still, I found everything intact with the clothes that Edna had washed and aired still on the lines. Her clothes were intact, which now made me know something was not right," said Nancy.

Nancy phoned a couple of her relatives to know if they knew of her sister’s whereabouts, but none responded in the affirmative.

When she was about to sleep Monday night she decided to check under the bed and that is when she potted her sister’s toes.

"It was unlikely for her (Edna), to be out of touch for that long. I was just shocked that I ran out and informed a neighbour who came to confirm she was dead," Nancy added.

Makadara OCPD Tom Atuti and his CID counterpart Zack Nangulo said preliminary investigations had shown the suspect in their custody is the one who sent the text to Nancy using Edna’s phone.

Nangulo who termed their investigations as a breakthrough added they would run a number of forensic tests on the suspect and body before he appears in court.

Before the suspect was arrested, he was in the deceased’s house briefing the family and journalists how he discovered the body and recounting her last moments.

He then accompanied the family to Industrial Area police station where he suddenly surrendered and confessed that he was behind the murder.