Security cameras to give clue on unknown car in murder of mother and daughter

Catherine Nyaguthii Mwai who was found dead in her residence in South B estate. [Image: Courtesy]

A property tussle is being weighed by police as a possible motive in the murder of a woman and her daughter in Nairobi’s South B estate.

Yesterday, investigators stumbled on an unsigned property lease in the house where the body of Judy Wanjiku Mwai, 73, and that of her daughter Catherine Nyaguthii Mwai, 47, were found on Monday.

The two women were killed on Sunday, and their bodies were found in house number 275 within Golden Gate Court.

“The copy of the lease could be an indicator. It is one of the possible motives,” said a detective who sought anonymity.

At the same time, police are still seeking clues to the identify of a black SUV that dropped the two women at their house on Sunday at 2.30am, the last time they were seen alive.

By yesterday, number plates of the car remained unknown. Guards at the entrance of the compound said they were not recorded.

Police said they would explore surveillance cameras on smaller roads around the house, and on major highways bordering South B estate to identify the driver of the SUV.

Yesterday, the guards who work at Golden Gate Court were questioned by investigators at Industrial Area police station. 

Also questioned were neighbours of the deceased women.

Besides the property tussle theory, Makadara head of Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Henry Kiambati said other theories were being explored. 

He said no arrests had been made. “We are yet to know the identity of the driver behind the wheels of the SUV, leave alone the number plates. That is part of what we are pursuing,” Mr Kiambati said.

Guards who were questioned said the two women first left the house driving the SUV at around 11pm on Saturday.

They returned at about midnight, stayed briefly, and left again in the same car, this time with a driver. 

The same car would later drop them at their residence at 2:30am on Sunday. The two women were not seen alive again.

Had injuries

A relative who went to their house after they failed to visit Nyaguthii’s father John Mwai in a city hospital on Sunday and Monday, found them dead.

The older woman had been strangled using a sisal rope. Her body lay on the bed, with the sisal rope around her neck and tied on the bed stand.

Nyaguthii’s body was found on the floor and had injuries on the neck.

Eric Mwangi, a relative, said the two did not express any fears for their lives and neither did they have any disputes known to them.

Police said there were signs of a struggle in the house, which indicated more than two people were involved in the killings.