Investigations have been launched into the rape-murder of a nonagenarian from Mutara in Laikipia Central subcounty.
Shiphira Mukami Ndumia, 93, was raped and killed at her home a week ago – on Sunday evening.
Officers from the homicide department in Nairobi are working on the case.
Laikipia Central subcounty police commander Isaac Omari told the Star on the phone on Friday that one suspect had been arrested. He said the suspect was arrested after his shirt was found with bloodstains. He is a neighbour of the deceased.
Omari said the DCI and homicide officers from Nairobi will give a clear picture once they visit the scene. Only then shall a full statement be issued, he said.
Mukami, popularly known as ‘Cucu wa Mutiga’ (Mutiga’s grandmother), lived alone. A friend and a neighbour, Lucy Wangeci, discovered Mukami's body soaked in blood on Monday morning.
Wangeci had gone to help Mukami harvest her maize as they had agreed the previous evening. She said she noticed all the houses were open and the elderly woman was nowhere to be seen. She called Mukami but she did not answer.
“I entered the kitchen and I noticed it was just as it was when I left the previous evening. Even her cows were not milked, yet she always milks them,” she said.
Wangeci said she went to the next house where the door was slightly open and when pushed the door and peeped inside, she found Mukami lying face down.
“Her dress had been pushed to her chest and the rest of the body was completely naked."
Wangeci said Mukami’s phone and a bunch of keys were found intact on her bosom where she normally secured them with a piece of cloth. They were soaked in blood.
Family members, however, declined to speak to the media, allegedly on instructions from area OCS who identified himself as Hamisi. He allegedly warned them that doing so would jeopardise investigations.
On Friday afternoon when the Star visited the village, three family members were at Jikaze police post, where they were following up on the matter.
After they were done with the police boss, they said they had been advised by the Jikaze police boss not to give any information on the matter.
“We wanted the matter covered by the media also because we want justice for our mum. But we have been advised to drop the idea," the deceased’s son Geoffrey Nderitu said.
The OCS, however, denied issuing such instructions when the Star requested him to clarify the position.
He said he told them they were not restricted from speaking with anyone, except that clear details would only be availed after the postmortem.
The officer said they told him they have been getting calls from journalists and asked “me what they should say. I told them anything, but proper investigations will be conducted by the homicide officers."
The body was taken to Pope Benedict Hospital in Nyahururu.
