Pregnant woman kidnapped, killed

A family was Sunday fighting to come to terms with the gruesome murder of an eight-month pregnant woman who was kidnapped in Nairobi, killed and her body dumped in Machakos.

Ms Irene Nzisa was picked from her house in Tassia by unknown people on Wednesday last week.  Her body would be discovered the following day near her rural home in Maiani, Masii.

It had been dumped by the roadside and bore several stab wounds. Two cans of pesticide were found next to the body that was discovered by children on their way to school.

Her husband, Mr Francis Musembi told the Nation on the fateful day, his wife had arrived from work at around 5.30pm before she and their three-year-old son stepped out.

“I arrived back home around 8.30pm and found no one in the sitting house. I could, however, hear the maid doing some work in the kitchen. I sat on the couch and relaxed,” says Mr Musembi.

The television was on, playing Ms Nzisa’s favourite movie. Mr Musembi paused it and called the house help. He asked her where his wife and son were. She said she did not know.

A few moments later, two security guards knocked on the door, one of them carrying his son.

“They asked me if the child was mine and I sensed something was amiss,” says Mr Musembi. “My wife would never leave our child alone. I asked the boy where his mother was an he said he had left her in a car driven by ‘auntie’.”

The child had been found at the main gate to Tassia Estate by the guards, who asked him to direct them to his parent’s house.

“I fed and bathed him and put him to bed, then I went out to look for my wife,” says Mr Musembi.

He assumed his son had slipped away from his mother, and that the mother was out there looking for him.

It would have been easier, Mr Musembi reasoned, had Ms Nzisa carried her mobile phone with her, but she had not.

At 4am, Mr Musembi reported the disappearance of his wife to Embakasi Police Station then drove back home. He spent the next day making frantic calls to friends and relatives, but none had seen her.

STRANGE WOMAN

“A neighbour’s house help told me a woman had on Wednesday asked whether Irene was around. The house help said she had earlier met the woman at the parking lot, and that the woman had asked her whether Irene lived in the estate. She directed the woman to our house,” said Mr Musembi.

Interestingly, even after being directed to Ms Irene’s house, the woman left.  Mr Musembi said he suspects the woman was behind the killing of his wife.

On Friday, after visiting hospitals and police stations in Nairobi, Mr Musembi received the call he most dreaded: a pregnant woman had been found dead at Masii and her body was at the Machakos Level 5 Hospital mortuary.

Embakasi deputy criminal investigations boss Peter Kimulwo said they have launched investigations into the murder. “We have found crucial leads that we are following,” he said.