- She always brought her mother gifts and had planned to see her this Easter holiday
- Slain student will be buried Thursday next week in Mahiga, Nyeri county
For Winfred Waithera, mother of slain Moi University student Ivy Wangechi, the day she received a call from the school’s health science dean remains the darkest in her life.
She told journalists at the family home in Makongeni Phase 10 Estate in Thika yesterday that the departed student was the family’s role model.
Waithera recounted that when she got to the university, her daughter’s friends told her of how Ivy, as was nearly becoming a tradition in their relationship, was to bring her gifts for Easter.
“She was my mentor and caretaker. I don’t know how tomorrow will turn to be without my sweetest Ivy,” she said in her eulogy.
The student was brutally killed last Tuesday by a man who claimed to be her boyfriend.
Naftali Kinuthia attacked Ivy outside Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where she worked.
He stormed the premises brandishing a brand new axe.
Waithera said her daughter was fond of bringing her pairs of earrings, a purse or a bottle of perfume.
"She was a great girl," a tearful Waithera said, adding that Ivy had a great sense of fashion.
“Ivy could easily combine fashion and medicine,” Waithera told reporters.
The family condemned social media bloggers for “creating the image of a Wangechi they did not know.”
They accused the lot of spreading lies about their daughter, causing the family a lot of pain and distress.
“These character vandals went out there spreading false and damaging information about somebody they did not know and had no reason to attack,” Waithera said.
“As her mother, I want to state that no one paid her fees apart from her parents and the government through the Joint Admissions Board. She never deferred her studies and never sat a supplementary exam.”
The family announced that the student’s burial is slated for Thursday next week at her parents’ home in Mahiga, Nyeri county.
They said they have let justice take its course adding that they believe the police will act on the matter diligently.
“The law must take its course. It's not for us as a family to define which way it should go,” John King'ori, the family's spokesperson, said.