After four years of studying for a degree in Business Administration at the Cooperative University and graduating in 2022, Emmanuel Omondi’s hard work finally paid off in March 2023 when he received an acceptance letter from a telecommunications company.
But a night out with his friends to celebrate his new job would put an end to the euphoria after he went missing at 2 am on April 1 at a club called Hornbill in Ongata Rongai.
On the fateful night at the bar, friends say, trouble brewed between Emmanuel and other patrons after he accidentally fell and spilt the drinks of those at the neighbouring table. A scuffle ensued and the bouncers escorted him out of the club. That was the last time his friends say they saw him.
“I called Emmanuel and we spoke briefly. Later my daughter called me and asked if I had spoken to him and I said yes and even gave her the time but she said it couldn’t be because she had received a message that Emmanuel was missing. She added that it was probably Emmanuel’s friends who had his phone and ID card,” his father Julius Odhiambo said.
Emmanuel’s family rushed from their home in Eldoret to Nairobi to search for him, but they kept coming up against dead ends.
“I tried to contact his friends, including the one Emmanuel was staying with in Nairobi. But we couldn’t get enough information. I also wondered why they had put their phone numbers on the missing poster instead of mine. Besides, I know my son and he does not drink, so the behaviour they described could not be him” Mr Odhiambo adds
Nine days after Emmanuel went missing, disturbing news reached Emmanuel’s family and friends. A body had been discovered in the septic tank of the Hornbill Club, where Emmanuel had last been seen. The body was recovered and taken to City Mortuary where his relatives were called to identify him.
“After looking at the body, I realised that it was not my son’s. His toes looked different and the body had a tattoo. My son had no tattoo. The clothes were also not what I knew my son to wear,” says Mr Odhiambo.
But Emmanuel’s girlfriend, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says she was with Emmanuel on the day he disappeared and that his clothes matched those found on the body.
However, Emmanuel’s family insisted that the body was not their son’s and that they believed he was still alive.
DNA test
However, police officers from Rongai Police Station led by Sub County Police Commander Hassan Gura, who have been handling the case since April 1, insisted that the family must give permission for a DNA test to be conducted on them and the body to establish whether or not it is Emmanuel’s.
“This will also help the investigation. Once we identify the body found in the septic tank, it will answer other questions we have, including why a body was found in the club’s premises.” says the sub-county police commander.
The septic tank in question is kept locked by the management, adding to the mystery of who threw the man’s body in and why, and most importantly – who killed him.
Nation reached out to the manager of the Hornbill Club to get his side of the story, but he refused to be interviewed or comment.
On Monday, 15 workers from the Hornbill club appeared in court over Emmanuel’s disappearance after being arrested last Friday. However, the magistrate said the 15 could not be remanded in custody until the identity of the body found at the club was established through DNA testing.
When the 15 appeared in court, DNA samples and a post-mortem examination of the body were carried out by government pathologist Dr Peter Ndegwa.
However, the post-mortem results were inconclusive as the body was too badly decomposed to determine the cause of death. The pathologist says a toxicological analysis will be carried out instead to determine the cause of death.
“I have spoken to my family and told them to accept whatever the result is, even though we do not want to believe that our child is dead. His siblings are particularly affected, considering how close they are,” said Mr Odhiambo.
DNA samples were also taken from Emmanuel’s father, Julius, and his mother. Detectives had to travel to Eldoret to collect them from her as she has been ill since receiving the news of her son’s disappearance and the body recovered from the club. BY DAILY NATION