Girl, 8, defiled, tortured and killed

Purity Wanjiru, eight, left home for school at 6.30am on Wednesday as was her routine.

She never came back. 

It was to be the last time her grandmother, Grace Muringo, would see her alive. 

Wanjiru’s mutilated body was found in an open field near Gichaka shopping centre on Thursday afternoon.

The state of the body, Muringo said, showed her grandchild died an agonising death. 

It is suspected that the Grade 2 pupil was waylaid on her way to the nearby Uhuru Primary School by a criminal who defiled, tortured and killed her.

“She had multiple stab wounds. Her pelvic bone was split like that of a slaughtered sheep. She had been seared with a hot object all over the body,” she said

“Her eyes had also been stabbed, she had a panga cut in the face and the neck was slit too.”

Muringo told the Star on Friday that Wanjiru left for school at 6:30am on Wednesday but did not come back at 3pm as usual. At 4pm a schoolmate told Muringo that her granddaughter was not at school.

Muringo, together with local Nyumba Kumi elders, searched for the girl until 11pm.

On Thursday morning the grandmother went to Uhuru Primary School, where she was informed that the child did not show up the previous day and no one knew where she was.

Muringo reported the child missing at Ol Joro Orok police station.

Meanwhile, back home villagers had formed a search party and had found the mutilated body.

The body seemed to have been dragged to the field where it was found. The girl's schoolbag was next to her body.

There was ash on her feet and the bag. 

Muringo suspects a neighbour but police have not made any arrests.  

Nyandarua West subcounty police commander Isaac Ruto said they are investigating and have crucial leads.

He said DCI officers are camping at Gichaka to get to the bottom of the shocking murder. Ruto said Muringo will be required to record a comprehensive statement, and asked why a child that young would be left to go to school alone at 6am.

Muringo said she does not hold a grudge against anyone. Neither does her daughter, the child's mother, who is currently in Lamu. 

Muringo said her daughter gave birth to Wanjiru when she was in Form 2. She took her daughter back to school a few months ago and took it upon herself to raise her granddaughter.  

Resident Wanjau Kariuki said the child's underwear and shoes were missing. “It is extremely painful for such an innocent life to be lost in such a manner,” he said

Kariuki said Uhuru Primary School is about 800 metres from Wanjiru’s home and there are no big bushes along the path they use.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya