Investigations into the February 12, 2023 “forced abortion” that ended up killing a 22-year-old Dedan Kimathi University student are now focused on 10 suspects, among them the father of her unborn baby.
The man is suspected to have had an interest in getting rid of the unborn baby after impregnating Regina Wairimu, a fourth-year telecommunication and electrical engineering student.
“Investigations are progressing steadily with a pool of suspects that include that man and others locally [in Nyeri]with the hope that soon we will separate the wheat from the chaff and be advised by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on the way forward,” said Nyeri County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss John Gacheru.
Discreet monitoring
He said the DCI has placed all people of interest in a discreet monitoring programme to protect them from any harm motivated by a cover-up.
On February 11, Regina told her friends that she was going to a Nyeri bar to meet the father of her unborn baby.
It is in this bar that detectives believe she met with several people, among them the resident DJ and two women. They later went to one of the two women’s rental house in Kengemi estate in the outskirts of Nyeri town, where Regina is believed to have suffered the forced abortion of her eight-and-a-half months old foetus.
Detectives also want to question the taxi driver who was called in by the two women to transport the unconscious Regina to Dedan Kimathi University’s health facility. She was referred to Nyeri County Referral Hospital, where it was confirmed she was dead.
Dead foetus
It is in this hospital that two bags, one containing the dead foetus and the other full of bloody pieces of clothing, were discovered to have accompanied her after they were picked by the ambulance driver having been abandoned by the taxi.
To get her into the taxi, it is reported that two men helped carry her from the third floor of the apartment building.
Detectives also believe that the deceased had a local boyfriend described as a “streetwise, controversial and jealous” man (whose name cannot also be revealed for legal reasons).
After Regina died, there is a young woman who, together with a male companion, visited the deceased’s rural home riding in a vehicle described as a “BMW driven by a man who was introduced by the girl as a link to influence and power” to “look into any difficulties the family might be encountering in funding the burial”.
The two had even proposed to the family that “we can just let this issue [go away]without any investigations; we settle everything and leave the rest to God”.
Mr Gacheru said investigations will involve an audit of all the suspects’ mobile phone activity around the time that Regina died.
The detectives will also examine the report of a post -mortem that was conducted by Dr Bill Muriuki on February 17 and which indicated that “she died of multiple lesions on her uterus that occasioned severe blood haemorrhage”.
Forensic analysis
Mr Gacheru said Regina’s phone had been formatted to erase all records “but that is not an issue, we are adequately empowered by technology to retrieve all of the lost data and we will study them”.
He added that forensic analysis on blood spots that were found in the house as well as fingerprints on the two bags will also feature prominently in the investigations. The officers will also question the medical personnel who handled Regina after she was brought in by the taxi.
“There is also the DNA to be conducted to ascertain the father and whether he is connected to her death… In short, let it be known that we are doing all that is possible to unravel this death and none in my team is interested in any cover-up against anyone incriminated for whatever motivation. We will conduct the task at hand professionally and findings will be subjected to due process,” Mr Gacheru said.
Records that Nation has seen point to the possible fact that Regina had resolved to give birth to her baby since she applied for the deferment of her studies from January 12 to September 2023. Without the deferment, she was due for graduation in May this year.
Valentine’s Day message
At the time of commencement of the deferment, her antenatal clinic card states that she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant and was due for birth in two weeks at the time of her death.
Discovered in one of her notebooks is a Valentine’s Day message that reads: “To my unborn son… I love you. My baby daddy is bringing complications since he is powerful and influential… But I must give birth to you and show you momma love”.
