A family in Matsangoni, Kilifi county, is appealing to the government to help them unravel the death of their relative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
According to the family, 25-year-old Mercy Mwangala died on October 12 last year, but they received information about her death in January this year.
Mwangala left Kenya for greener pastures in the Middle East in January last year.
Her father, Mwangala Maneno, said his daughter had dreams of changing the fortunes of the family when she left, only to meet her death in the foreign land.
"She used to communicate with us, but towards last September she started complaining of mistreatment from her employer. However, she was optimistic that things would change,” Maneno said.
“She then went silent and whenever we tried to communicate with her someone else was picking up the call and replying to chats. We suspected something was wrong, but we had no one to give us updates.”
Maneno is now appealing to the government to investigate the death of his daughter.
"There is nothing that can bring my daughter back to life but if I know what transpired it will give me some solace," he added.
Joseph Wanje, another relative, said her body was mutilated with eyes gouged out and her tongue removed.
"We received the news of her death through other girls who are there. We reached out to both the agent in Kenya and Riyadh. Since January, we have been in communication until we received the body last week and we buried her on Saturday,” Wanje said.
“She died a painful death and there was no one beside her to help her.”
Matsangoni youth leader Sammy Ambari urged the government to come up with laws that would ensure the safety of Kenyan workers in the Gulf region.
He urged the government to guarantee employment for young Kenyans.
"Mercy went to the gulf to get a better life. If she was guaranteed employment in Kenya she wouldn't have travelled to the Gulf. The Middle East is a death trap to our girls,” he said.
“They leave with the aim of changing their homes, but some come back as cargo. We need policies that will guarantee employment to our people.”
