As former Multimedia University student Susan Njoki Ngige was being buried at her home in Nakuru on Friday, her friend could not stop blaming herself for the death.
Even when the preacher maintained that Ms Njoki’s time had elapsed as per God’s plan, Angel Triza was still not convinced.
Tears cascaded down her cheeks as the body was being lowered into the grave.
Thoughts of the last memory they shared bothered her. “I am almost there” was the last text message she received from Njoki.
MISSING
On the fateful night of December 31, Njoki was coming to her friend’s house to finalise their housesitting arrangement.
According to Triza, Njoki – 24 – boarded a vehicle from Ongata-Rongai at around 1pm and headed to her residence in Thika.
“We had agreed that she would update me when she is about to arrive. But after notifying me that she was almost arriving her phone went off. I called her phone severally to no avail. So I decided to ask another friend to take me to the bus stop to check whether she was stranded,” Triza recounted.
She went further with her efforts to trace her friend: “I posted on various social media platforms of her disappearance but there was no response. Her brother Suleiman Muiruri is the one who called me seeking to know what had happened that night.”
BLAME
Two weeks later, Muiruri called her with the news that Njoki’s body was taken to city mortuary after being found at Wakairu, opposite Kenyatta University Ruiru campus.
“I feel like I am the one who caused her death because if I did not call her she would not have died,” Triza said during the send off at Jordan Estate in Njoro.
Njoki’s mother Hellen Njeri Ngugi wept throughout the ceremony while her father Shadrack Ngige put on a brave face as he eulogised his eldest daughter whom he described as loving, disciplined and hardworking.
“Death has robbed me of my lovely daughter who had a great future,” Mr Ngugi said.
The autopsy revealed that her skull and cervical spinal column were fractured, indicating that she might have been hit by a speeding vehicle.