According to her mother, Florence Wanjiku, her daughter was playing outside their rental home at 6 pm when she disappeared.
When she was found, the child's body was half dressed and one leg at the hip and arm broken
Florence Wanjiku holding the photo of her three-year-old daughter, who was found murdered on Monday
In the dusty Mjini estate in Maragua town, Murang’a County,
residents are reeling from shock after the body of a three-year-old girl was found dumped in a swamp.The girl, Eliza Wamaitha, disappeared on Sunday evening
while playing with her friends, never to be seen alive again.“She asked for a piece of chicken, and we had just arrived from the road where they are hawked. She then went outside the building to play with her
friends. That was around 6.00 pm,” her mother, Florence Wanjiku, explained.Wanjiku then got busy preparing supper and checked on her
daughter about 30 minutes later. Wamaitha was still playing with her friends.But at 7 pm, Wanjiku went to fetch the child to feed her, only
to find her missing. That marked the beginning of a night-long search party that
bore no fruits as neighbors and friends came together to comb the town.
“The other children were still playing outside the entrance
of our building, but my daughter was not there. I asked them where she had gone
and they said, she was just here,’” Wanjiku said.
Wanjiku went to Maragua police station but was told she had to
wait for 24 hours before making a report.
At 11 am on Monday, some residents stumbled on her child’s
body dumped in a swamp near the Githanja River.
“We were here wondering what else to do when a neighbor
informed us that my child had been found. I went to the scene and confirmed it
was her,” Wanjiku said.
Residents at the swamp where the body of the three-year-old Eliza Wamaitha was found in MaraguaOne of her legs, she added, had been broken at the hip, and
one hand was also visibly broken. Her underwear, stocking, and shoes were
missing.The distraught mother explained that her private parts were
bloody, prompting her to conclude that she had been defiled.“Her skin was not too damp. That indicated that she had not
stayed in the water for too long. There is a possibility whoever dumped her
there did so just shortly before she was found,” she added.Wanjiku is now appealing for help to pay for a postmortem scheduled
to be done tomorrow and in preparation for her daughter’s burial ceremony.Residents expressed their apprehension with the state of
security in the area, saying several murders have also been reported in the
recent past.Joyce Wairimu urged the police to act in haste and ensure
the culprit is heavily punished.Maragua town residents at the rental home of Florence Wanjiku, whose three-year-old daughter was found murdered on Monday.
“Let him be paraded in the town when he is arrested. As a
young parent, I am afraid of leaving my children alone, and sometimes they come
home from school when you are away,” she said.
Martin Mukundi, a neighbor, wondered why the perpetrator picked
on the defenseless child and why they killed her in such a gruesome manner.
“Is he a father? Does he have a family? We’re angry that
such a young life has been cut short in such a gruesome manner”.
Anne Wanjiku said had the police helped to conduct a
door-to-door search on Sunday night, the child may have been saved.“We could not get into people’s homes without the police. We
could have saved that child. Maybe she was being held in a neighboring house,”
she said.
County police commander Benjamin Kimwele confirmed that
investigations have been launched into the case and that the actual cause of
death will be established after the postmortem.
“We will also confirm whether she was defiled after the
postmortem,” the police boss said.
Florence Wanjiku holding the photo of her three-year-old daughter, who was found murdered on Monday
Residents at the swamp where the body of the three-year-old Eliza Wamaitha was found in Maragua
Maragua town residents at the rental home of Florence Wanjiku, whose three-year-old daughter was found murdered on Monday.