The country is still in shock following the murder of Joyce Syombua and her two children. The three had been missing for weeks, but nobody had anticipated that their bodies would be discovered lifeless. While the family of Joyce are in mourning, they want the murder investigation to be conducted thoroughly to bring the culprits to book and give them some closure. Many have failed to understand what the innocent children did to deserve their lives being cut short at such a young age. However, there is no age at which it is right for a life to be terminated and so justice is expected to be the order of the day by the time the investigation is concluded.
Image: nation.co.ke
Source: UGC
The rate of murders in the country is worrying with many relationship disputes seeming to end with the loss of lives recently. First, there was the case of Ivy, a young Moi University student who was hacked to death by an alleged boyfriend using an axe. Then there was the Cohen case in which the wife was accused of being the one behind the murder of the billionaire husband.
Before the dust settles on those incidences, Kenyans now have to deal with the Syombua murder. In the above cases, it is clear that anyone can be a victim, be it the husband, wife or children. Much has to be done on resolving couple disputes through services such as counselling for all the involved parties as an attempt to tame violent reactions.
Joyce Syombua and children bodies found after weeks of disappearance
Joyce Syombua and her two children had been missing for more than three weeks prompting investigative agencies to swing into action. Joyce’s family had been praying that she would be found alive even as they suspected that her husband had something to do with the disappearance. True to that, it is after the husband, Major Peter Mugure, was arrested that there seemed to be a breakthrough in the investigation.
News quickly turned from bad to worse when the three bodies of Joyce Syombua, Shanice Maua and Prince Michael were recovered, and the family was thrown into mourning. The bodies were found at Makaburini in Thingithu area of Nanyuki.
READ ALSO: Peter Mugure: KDF sack officer linked to death of wife, two children
Family dispute
The husband was the key suspect in the murder of his wife and two children because the two had been involved in a dispute. Syombua’s mother Elizabeth Maua Malombe revealed that one week before Syombua travelled to Nanyuki where she was murdered she had won a court case in Nairobi regarding child maintenance.
Joyce had sought the court’s intervention for the upkeep of her children because the husband was not fulfilling his duties, arguing that the children were not his. A paternity test was conducted, and it revealed that Mugure was the father of the children, and he was compelled by the court to provide for them. It is based on those developments that the husband is believed to have had a motive to murder Joyce and her two children.
Image: nation.co.ke
Source: UGC
A murder plan in place
It is clear that Mugure was not happy with the court ruling, but in a twist of events, he reached out to his wife with a request to see the children. Mugure went to the extent of sending their transport fare. It should have alerted Syombua on why her husband had quickly changed his heart regarding the children.
However, there is no way she could have objected since the court had ruled that Mugure be granted regular access to the children. Little did she know that the husband had other intentions, and this was only a trap to lure them to their death. It is suspected that Mugure drugged the three before strangling them. First, he left with the children from the camp before coming for the wife later.
Mugure’s depression claims
Colleagues of Major Peter Mugure claimed that the soldier might be suffering from depression because he had crashed a plane. Mugure had been stationed at the Laikipia Air Base where he had shown signs of being depressed. One of his colleagues revealed that he had seen the suspect standing in the rain for hours while continually looking at his watch.
Mugure crashed an aeroplane when he was a trainee pilot, and as a result, he was grounded, and this is when his personal and mental problems began. Mugure had only been working at the Laikipia Air Base for one year after he had been transferred from the Moi Air Base in Nairobi.
A second wife?
Peter Mugure might have abandoned his children because he has another wife. It emerged that the soldier is in a relationship with another Air Force officer. It brings another dimension to the case as the other wife could be treated as a potential accomplice in the murder.
READ ALSO: Peter Mugure: Bodies of Laikipia army officer’s wife, two children found buried
Piecing the puzzle together
It emerged that upon leaving Nairobi, Syombua did not spend the night at Mugure’s house. The soldier’s house was a single room in the camp. The preliminary conclusions are that the soldier poisoned the wife and children and then killed them in a different location.
The bodies were stuffed in gunny bags and then buried in a shallow hole in a cemetery that was initially under the defunct Nanyuki Municipal Council. Detectives investigating the murder hugely relied on several sources to crack the murder. One of the sources was a taxi driver who was approached by the soldier to identify a location where the bodies would be dumped. Other people who have questions to answer are the officers manning the gate of the camp.
Civilians entering the camp have to leave their national identity cards at the gate and pick them when they leave. The protocol was not followed on the fateful day. Syombua’s phone was found in a 4NTE matatu that had departed from Nakuru to Nanyuki and investigations have been conducted into that.
Image: nation.co.ke
Source: UGC
Court detains murder suspects
A court sitting in Nanyuki arrested Peter Mugure and another suspect for 21 days pending the conclusion of investigations. According to Chief Magistrate Lucy Mutai, the police had not conducted sufficient investigations hence the need to detain the two for them not to tamper with any evidence.
The other suspect, 21-year-old Collins Pamba is a casual labourer at the senior officers’ mess at the Laikipia Air Base. The case will be mentioned for hearing on the 9th of December.
The investigations are still ongoing into the murder of Joyce Syombua and her two children, but two suspects are already in custody. Major Peter Mugure will remain the key suspect given that he had denied that the children were his, prompting Syombua to go to court. Mugure who has another wife lost in court and was required to cater to the upkeep of the children. He is the one who asked Syombua to travel to Nanyuki so that he can see the children. Even as the investigations continue, compelling evidence points at Mugure as being the one behind the murder.
READ ALSO: Outrage as Kenyans mourn mother, 2 children killed after visiting KDF officer in Nanyuki
