The identity of a mysterious black Toyota Prado that dropped off a mother and her daughter, then picked them again before bringing them back in the middle of the night, is at the centre of investigations on their murder in South B, Nairobi.
On Tuesday, the Homicide Department at the DCI was trying to put together the last moments of Ms Judy Mwai and her daughter Catherine Nyaguthie.
SICK BUSINESSMAN
The two were discovered dead in their bedrooms on Monday afternoon after their mobile phones went unanswered, prompting Ms Mwai’s sister, Ms Peris Wambui, to visit their house and check if something had happened to them.
“I asked Meridian Hospital if they had seen them because they always visited the hospital to check on my brother-in-law every day. The hospital said they had not seen them,” she recalled.
Ms Mwai’s husband has for the past four years been battling a stroke that has confined him to hospital. Ms Mwai, 73, was a retired Treasury employee while her 43-year-old daughter was previously a banker with Co-operative Bank.
Before falling sick, Mr Mwai was a businessman with properties across Nairobi. His family has been disposing part of the property to foot his hospital bills.
Ms Mwai and Ms Nyaguthi were the sole occupants of house number 275 at Golden Gate estate in South B.
BLOOD OOZING
Their back gate, which security guards said was the one the two women usually used to access their house, is also used by a couple that has rented their servants’ quarters. An artisan who we were told is known simply by the name Mainge also uses this particular gate, since Ms Mwai had allowed him to use part of her backyard to store his tools of trade.
Details of what transpired on Sunday night are still scanty. Security guards have told the police that none of them heard any commotion or saw anyone else access the house.
The couple that lives in Ms Mwai’s servants’ quarters also said they heard nothing. Ms Mwai was found on her bed lying down with her neck tied to the bed stand and blood oozing from the mouth.
Her daughter was found lying on the floor of her bedroom with injury marks around her neck, which police say pointed to possible strangulation. An initial assessment by Scene of Crime Investigators showed that nothing was stolen from the two.
“It is still too early to say what happened. Detectives are at the scene,” Mr Philip Ndolo, the Nairobi Police Commander, said.
ACCESS HOUSE
“What we know so far is that Ms Mwai and her daughter were dropped off at 1am on Sunday by a black Toyota Prado. The two, who neighbours said were very religious, rarely came home late at night, let alone at 1am.”
They used their back gate to access the house as the Prado waited outside. They then left 15 minutes later and were dropped off by the same car more than an hour later at 2:30am. It is still not clear if the people they were with in the car joined them in the house, or what exactly happened.
The guard, who is mostly based at the front gate of the house, said the two had no visitors that night.
A day time security guard said his colleague who mans the gate at night told him Ms Mwai and Catherine did not seem like they were in any trouble when they came in.
They then left 15 minutes later and were dropped by the same car more than an hour later at 2:30am. It is still not clear if the occupants they were with in the car joined them in the house or what exactly happened. The guard who overlooks the front gate of the house said the two had no visitors that night either.
DISCOVEREDBODIES
The house, a four bedroomed maisonette, is the first one at their court along Golden Gate road and is sandwiched between two security guard posts.
“From my position I can see the lights go on and off in the house. Most of the time, Ms Mwai walks around her compound sweeping and collecting leaves”, but I didn’t hear her, and I thought they went to visit mzee in hospital,” said the security guard.
It is only after Mwai’s sister screamed from inside the compound on discovering the bodies Monday afternoon that security guards allegedly knew something wrong had happened.
“A family friend of theirs got in to help, but she restrained him from making calls. We later realised what exactly had transpired when the police officers came,” said the security guard.
Ms Peris Wambui said her sister and niece had never confided in her if they were in any trouble or if she had faced any threats before.