Following a fierce online protest by Kenyans seeking justice for Velvine Nungari Kinyanjui who was raped and her spine broken during a date in Kahawa West on February 23, 2021 police have arrested the suspect.
On Friday, Kiambu DCI boss Samson Kiptum said that the matter is being probed actively but the suspect has been apprehended.
He said that the man in question whose photo had been shared on Twitter under #JusticefofVelvine is in police custody.
“The matter is still under investigation. The suspect will soon be in court,” Kiptum told The Standard on Friday.
He said this DCI officers have forwarded the investigation file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) office for guidance.
According to Kiptum, the suspect is looking at murder and rape charges.
Nungari’s story broke on Thursday evening as Kenyans called for justice for the 24-year-old girl who was lured to death by a man who took her out on a date.
According to one of her friends, she left home for a date on February 23. She was to meet a man only identified as Murimi at a hotel-cum-restaurant in Kahawa West.
They had met at her job where she worked as a waitress and had served him severally and friendship developed.
At 7:57 pm, she called her friend with a different number and asked her to go to the hotel but she declined saying that it was already late. They agreed that Nungari would call her immediately she got home which she promised she would.
“Before she hanged up she said something weird “ukinikosa mpige hiyo number kama mara 150”. Unfortunately she never got home that day which was unlike her and her phone off,” a thread on Twitter from her friend stated.
On February 24, Nungari called her friend and asked her to get her at Sinott Hotel in Kahawa West and when she went there, she was petrified with what she saw.
“On Wednesday the 24th, she called me at around 1 pm and told me to go get her with another friend where she was (Sinott Hotel) Kiamumbi.
“When we got there, we consulted with the hotel staff and they told us she came with a guy who frequents the hotel at night. They also told us that they found her naked in bed lying upside down and its like she was injected with something.”
She was wheeled to Kenyatta University Referral Hospital (KUTRH) where doctors diagnosed her with a broken spine and severe cervical fractures.
Nungari was isolated from then and she died on March 9.
She was the only child in her family. She was buried at their Saba Saba home in Murang’a on Thursday.
