Grief and disbelief overcame the family and friends of slain businesswoman Monica Nyawira during her Requiem Mass yesterday at Happy Valley in Thika.
She was to turn 29 on October 10 and planned to introduce her family to her long-time fiance, her father said. He was not identified.
Family members eulogised flamboyant Nyawira as a determined go-getter, who was also kind and obedient.
Her body was discovered in a bathtub last Friday at her apartment in Kilimani. Her throat was slit and her legs and hands tied from behind.
Through his sobs, her father, cleric Paul Ngarama said his first-born daughter had travelled back to Kenya from Juba, South Sudan, where she had a business.
“I still can’t believe you’re gone, my daughter. I keep looking at the door hoping you’ll walk in and say, ‘Hi Dad’,” Ngarama said amid sobs
“I miss your smile that melted my heart. You are the most beautiful girl in the world.”
The cleric said his daughter, known for her expensive tastes, rejected “cheap things” at a young age. She refused to go to a public school and asked to be taken to an academy, he told mourners.
“You even told me you’ll never get married without your own house and a car. True to your words, you bought yourself a car and a house. You always aimed to do better,” Ngarama said.
He said his daughter had promised to buy him a V8 Toyota Land Cruiser on her birthday. “I’m still waiting for it, my daughter,” he said. The cleric said all he wants is justice for his daughter.
Margaret Njuguna, a family friend and Nyawira’s Sunday school teacher, said, “We are all in shock and pain of losing a daughter who was full of life. It was so cruelly cut short. We were all looking to her progress and success in her life.”
Njuguna said Nyawira never missed Sunday school. “She was exceptional in remembering verses and would not hesitate to present during Sunday school,” she said.
Njuguna said the family is satisfied with the manner in which the case is being handled. “We are thankful to the detectives who have swiftly taken up the matter and have already arrested a prime suspect,” she said.
Meanwhile, leaders called for speedy investigations.
Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu said it is painful to lose a child. “I’m a father of four daughters and it’d really pain me if anyone hurts any of them. We want justice for Nyawira,” he said.
Waititu proposed that the Constitution be amended to scrap the clause allowing bail for suspects of capital offences, like murder.
Meanwhile, popular Citizen TV news anchor Jackie Maribe yesterday was questioned by police about her fiance — Joseph “Jowie” Irungu – arrested in connection with the murder.
Maribe was first questioned by Kilimani DCI officers yesterday at noon. Then she went to DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road for further questioning.
She recorded statements with investigators. The DCI homicide unit has taken over the investigations.
Maribe arrived at the Kilimani police station, almost incognito. Journalists camping at the station, did not realise she had arrived. The celebrity arrived in a vehicle with tinted windows. She was accompanied by a man and a woman, believed to be her parents.
Earlier, officers dusted Maribe’s vehicle, which according to the investigators was being driven by her fiancé Irungu last Friday.
On that day he is reported to have visited the apartment where Nyawira lived. Irungu has told police he had nothing to do with the murder and said he himself was attacked by gunmen.
Homicide officers also revisited Nyawira’s house where her body was found. Investigators said the new visit by investigators was routine procedure after a new team takes over investigations.
Kilimani police chief Michael Muchiri told journalists, “We are relying on circumstantial evidence and scientific evidence to get more evidence. There is a lot of photography and dusting going on here to get more clues.”
