Slain UON Student’s Mother Recounts Daughter’s Chilling Last Moments
Mercy Kwamboka’s final moments provide a chilling depiction of brutality.
The 20-year-old University of Nairobi student whose lifeless body was found dumped in a thicket in Mwiki was tortured before being abandoned for dead.
Her disappearance after receiving a mysterious phone call at 11 p.m. from her Pipeline home sparked a nightmare for her family, who are now demanding justice for their slain daughter.
The harrowing details of Kwamboka’s ordeal have astounded Kenyans. Her mother, Stella Kerubo, struggled to describe the horrific injuries her daughter sustained.
“Her leg was broken like a sugarcane and her hands were doused with acid,” she revealed to Citizen TV on Wednesday.
These injuries, evidence of savage torture, make it clear that Kwamboka’s captors intended to send a brutal message.
A witness at the scene, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the horror of discovering her body.
University student murdered
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) October 9, 2024
Kwamboka was murdered and body dumped in Mwiki
Kerubo: They broke her leg and doused her with acid
Kwamboka is a student at UON’s Chiromo campus#JKLive@KoinangeJeff pic.twitter.com/JjvLCsdoWs
One, who was concerned for his safety, described how Kwamboka was discovered half-naked, with her phone and Ksh1,000 lying beside her.
“She was trying to crawl, to walk, but it was clear something had happened before she was brought here. A car came, left, and returned,” the witness recalled.
He raised the chilling possibility that her assailants had returned to the scene to ensure their crime was complete.
The discovery of Kwamboka’s phone and money at the scene fuels speculation that her captors intended to kill her rather than rob her.
It also raises concerns about the nature of the call that drew her away from her home that fateful night. Why would anyone target a university student in such a gruesome way?
Kwamboka’s family’s grief is compounded by the brutal manner in which she was killed. Her mother’s anguish is palpable as she searches for answers.
“We need justice. How could someone do this to her?” she lamented.
The community surrounding Chiromo Campus, where she studied, is equally shaken, with many wondering how such violence could strike a young woman with her entire future ahead of her.
Police are piecing together Kwamboka’s final hours of life.
Investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have begun combing through her phone records, hoping to find out who called her that night.
The government does not collect statistics on female homicides. However, Femicide Count Kenya recorded 58 femicides between January and October 2022.
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The following year saw a concerning increase, with the organization recording at least 152 femicides, the highest number reported in the previous five years.
The true number of femicides is unknown, as the figures cited only reflect cases covered by the media, implying that the actual number is likely much higher.
Every other day, a woman or girl was killed, most often by her husband, boyfriend, father, or another family member.
According to investigative platforms Africa Uncensored and Africa Data Hub, approximately 500 Kenyan women were murdered between 2017 and 2024.
Slain UON Student’s Mother Recounts Daughter’s Chilling Last Moments
