The mother of the Form 3 student who took her life after stealing Sh2,500 has said she has no idea why she committed suicide.
Magdalene Mueni on Friday told reporters her daughter's soul was pure and innocent, she was raised with Christian values and had no discipline problems.
The girl, who police said admitted stealing a classmate's Sh2,500, was found hanging in the dormitory toilet at Tala Girls High School. She killed herself on Wednesday.
I took my child to school, not to mortuary. I don’t know what my child did. I’m told she committed suicide, but I don’t know. I want to know
“That soul is innocent, let it rest in peace. I accept she is gone,” her mother said.
Mueni, a widow, addressed reporters at Kangundo Level 4 Hospital mortuary in Machakos. She and relatives collected the body for burial.
She demanded to know from the school what made her daughter take her own life. She said school authorities had not respected her as a mother and told her to talk to police.
"I took my child to school, not to the mortuary. I don’t know what my child did. I’m told she committed suicide, but I don’t know. I want to know,” Mueni said.
“As a mother I can say she was a good child. I have never seen her with bad habits," Mueni said. She said her husband died three years ago and she has been struggling to raise two children.
She later said the girl had been begging to be transferred from Tala Girls, even saying she would repeat a class. She never explained and her mother didn't take her entreaties seriously.
“She had told me she wasn’t happy studying at Tala Girls. I don’t know what she had seen in the school. But, she had requested to be transferred to another school even if it meant repeating a class,” Mueni said.
"So, we want to know what made my daughter commit suicide."
"We were told by teachers to go to the police, that the matter was with the DCI,” Mueni said.
“She has never disturbed me in any way, even when she was in her adolescent stage. I never found her in a neighbour’s house or with friends in my house. When she was home, she liked staying indoors with her brother,” the mother said.
Mueni called on Education CS George Magoha and Interior CS Fred Matiang'i to intervene and ensure she got justice out of her daughter's controversial death.
Matungulu deputy subcounty police commander Evans Mose said the body was found dangling from the rafters of a toilet on Wednesday. It was reported to police at 3.40pm on Wednesday.
The girl had been accused of stealing Sh2,500 pocket money from a fellow student.
"She was adversely mentioned as a suspect by the majority of her colleagues when the matter was being investigated," Mose told the Star by phone on Thursday.
"The deceased admitted that she stole the said money and had kept it in the dormitory."
Mose said the girl was told by a teacher to retrieve the money from where she had hidden it during break time and give it to the school's administration.
"The girl was given keys to the dormitory but she failed to return. This prompted the deputy principal to go looking for her. Unfortunately, they found the girl's body dangling from the roof of a toilet inside the dormitory building," Mose said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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