• Her employer accused her of killing his baby.
• She was 15 at the time, fed the baby and left her to sleep, only to find her dead.
A 10-year journey in pursuit of justice could turn a former househelp into a millionaire if a court awards her damages she has sought for unlawful detention.
Domitila Mwikali Kawembe has sued the Attorney General, Embakasi OCS, and the commissioner of police in 2008 under the old Constitution for the detention and wants the court to award her Sh14.1 million in damages.
She was 15 in 2007, the time of the arrest and detained for two months over allegations that she had murdered her boss's child.
She was a househelp in Pipeline area, Nairobi, staying with a family she had only served for two weeks.
On the day, she fed her employer’s baby who was less than a year old.
The child fell asleep and Mwikali put her to sleep.
Upon checking moments later, she realised the baby was dead.
In her court submissions, Domitila told the court that she went out and sat with some women in the compound where her employer’s house was situated.
Fear, anxiety, confusion, and trauma took a toll on her, but she waited for her employer to return to explain herself.
“She further testified that the reason she decided not seek help or tell anyone about the death of the child was that she was confused and distressed,” the submissions read.
Mwikali recounted that the father of the child came back at around 4pm and discovered that the child was dead and accused her of killing his child.
He had her arrested and incarcerated at Embakasi Police station.
She was detained at the police station for two months, held in the same cell with adults and no case was brought against her nor was an incident recorded in the OB.
She was later released after her mother, who is suing jointly with her, travelled from Masinga, Machakos County, to the police station and was referred to human rights outfits-International Justice Mission, Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions who took up the case, seeing her walk to freedom.
The mother coded as PW2, told the court she had to fundraise for fare to Nairobi and once at the station, she found her daughter dejected.
PW2 further testified that when she saw Domitila she was in shocked at her deplorable state.
"She looked dirty, confused and disconcerted. The witness further confirmed that Domitila was being held in a cell with both adults and children,” the documents indicate.
In their defence, the police argued the then minor was arrested by “people who were imposters,” appearing as police officers.
The documents also show that the defence refuted the claim that Mwikali was a minor at the time of her arrest, making her mother secure a letter from her former primary school to confirm her age.
The ODPP and the KNHCR also confirmed that she was minor.
Her IJM-seconded lawyer James Kironji now wants the court to award her Sh100,000 for each of the 63 days she spent in police custody and a further Sh500,000 for every four days that she was held, totaling to Sh14,175,000.
Mwikali and her lawyer will be back in court on April 2 for direction on the date of judgement.