Detectives have arrested a man suspected of killing North Imenti NG-CDF committee member Evelyne Mukiri Mbaabu, more than six weeks after she was hacked to death at her home in Kithoka, Meru County.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Solomon Kathurima Kairemia was arrested on September 21 after weeks of forensic analysis and intelligence-led investigations by detectives from the County Criminal Investigations Office and DCI Imenti North.
According to the DCI, detectives found Kairemia hiding in thickets only a few metres from his abandoned house.
Police also recovered a blood-stained panga believed to have been used in the August 7 attack. The weapon has been preserved as an exhibit for forensic examination.
Kairemia was later subjected to an identification parade, where police said he was positively identified as the suspect in the killing.
He was subsequently presented before the Meru Law Courts, where investigators secured a 14-day custodial order to allow them to complete investigations.
Mbaabu, 65, was killed at her home in Chabuene village, Kithoka, on the evening of August 7 while preparing supper with her 13-year-old grandson, Maxwell Mwenda.
Previous police accounts indicate that a man arrived at the homestead at about 7pm and asked for drinking water.
Mbaabu sent her grandson to get drinking water in the main house while she remained in the kitchen. Moments later, the boy heard her screaming for help.
When he rushed back, he found his grandmother lying in a pool of blood with deep cuts to her forehead and the back of her head. The attacker then turned on the boy and struck him on the arm with the machete before escaping.
Neighbours rushed Mbaabu to Grace Park Hospital in Meru, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Her body was later moved to Cool Breeze Mortuary.
The killing sparked concern in North Imenti, with Dawood calling for an urgent investigation and appealing to residents with information to assist detectives.
At Mbaabu's burial on August 19, Dawood said investigators were pursuing several possible leads, including a land dispute and a matter in which she was allegedly a whistleblower.
The MP said he had engaged the DCI leadership over the case and that the investigation had been escalated to senior homicide detectives. He also appealed to residents who may have seen a person wearing a purple dust coat around Kithoka and Msenangu on the night of the murder to provide information.
Mbaabu had served on the North Imenti NG-CDF committee under Dawood and was involved in school boards, bursary assistance and environmental conservation activities.
The DCI said investigations are continuing as detectives seek to establish the motive and circumstances surrounding the murder and determine whether other people were involved.
Be the First to Comment