Parents seek justice after daughter’s death in Saudi Arabia

Eunice Wanjiku's parents, Chege Kahiga and Grace Gathoni, with her photograph. Ms Wanjiku died in Saudi Arabia under mysterious circumstances and her body remained there for three years. FILE PHOTO | ANNE MACHARIA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By  ANNE MACHARIA

What you need to know:

  • Wanjuku’s body remained in Saudi Arabia for nearly three years and was marked as that of an unidentified person.
  • It took the intervention of the Kiambu women representative Annah Nyokabi and Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed to have the body brought to Kenya.
  • Her distraught parents want the Kenyan and Saudi Arabia embassies to investigate the death.
  • Area chief Benard Kinyua asked the government to totally ban Kenyans from working of in Saudi Arabia.

Leaders from Kabete in Kaimbu County have been asked to sensitise the residents over the dangers of working in Saudi Arabia.

This was after the mysterious death of Eunice Wanjiku, 38, in the country.

Wanjuku’s body remained in Saudi Arabia for nearly three years and was marked as that of an unidentified person.

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Her distraught parents, Chege Kahiga and Grace Gathoni, asked the government to work with the Kenyan and Saudi Arabia embassies in both countries and investigate what exactly happened to their daughter.

“For years we wondered what had happened to our daughter. We grieved over her not knowing whether she was dead or alive.”

“We want to know the truth over what led to the death of our daughter. There are suspicions that she was strangled to death by her employer,” said Mr Chege.

MISTREATED BY EMPLOYERS

Area Chief Benard Kinyua asked the government to totally ban Kenyans from working in Saudi Arabia, saying many who went there were either mistreated or even killed in the hands of their employers.

“How come there are never reports of mistreatment and deaths of Kenyans in other countries abroad except Saudi Arabia? We ask the government to take stern action and stop these trips. I also urge Kenyans not to travel there despite the lack of employment in the country,” said Chief Kinyua.

He added that there were many reports of people from Kabete traveling to Saudi Arabia for work.

“Those agencies purporting to take people to Saudi Arabia for work lie that there is good work and salary, but this is usually not the truth.

I even know of parents who, when they realise their child is being mistreated, pay for an air ticket and go to get them from there,” he added.

Burial meetings for the late Wanjiku continued at her home in King’eero village, Kabete Sub-County, where relatives and friends cried and mourned over the mysterious death of the mother of one.

According to information given after investigations by embassies with the intervention of the Kiambu women representative Annah Nyokabi and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, Ms Wanjiku's body had been lying in a Saudi Arabian mortuary since 2012.

The body was flown into the country through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and preserved at the St Teresa Hospital mortuary in Kikuyu.

The burial of the deceased will be held next week in Nyandarua.

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