"Withhold bail for my daughter's killer", Mother's emotional plea to court

The mother of the female Multimedia University student killed by a fellow student inside the varsity premises shared the pain following her daughter's death while pleading with the high court to withhold bail and bond terms for the murder suspect.

Teresa Kwamboka, mother to Sylvia Kwamboka, who was strangulated to death and chopped into pieces, said the act allegedly committed by murder suspect Eric Mutinda defies comprehension.

Mutinda was charged with murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code, where he is accused of killing Kemunto on March 30, 2025.

He allegedly stuffed Kemunto's body parts into her bag and dumped the remains in a water tank.

In her affidavit sworn by lawyer Danstan Omari to oppose bail and bond, Kwamboka recounted how Mutinda stuffed her daughter's lifeless body into a traveling bag she had personally bought for her- a bag she had painstakingly saved for from her earnings as a hawker and through menial jobs to support her modest needs at the university.

She says the offence for which Mutinda stands charged is one of unspeakable gravity.

"He is alleged to have, callously and with unfathomable cruelty, taken the life of my daughter, a bright, hopeful first-year student, through a vicious act of strangulation and bludgeoning, as confirmed to me by the postmortem report conveyed by medical authorities," states Teresa in the affidavit.

"It shatters my heart to know that the same bag meant to ease her life became the vessel in which the precious, lifeless body was discarded at 4:00 am into a water tank. On the same day, I had sent her some pocket money, money I had struggled to raise by waking up before dawn and labouring late into the night – yet she never lived to receive or enjoy it."

Teresa told the court to consider that Mutinda took off and went into hiding at his parents' home in Sultan Hamud, Makueni County, until he surrendered following pressure from his own parents.

She says this calculated evasion is evidence of Mutinda's willingness to flee and an ominous warning that if granted bond, he would likely abscond and wants the high court to consider withholding bail and bond terms for the suspect.

Mutinda, who allegedly killed the deceased after she reportedly rejected his overtures, will remain in custody for 30 days awaiting a bail and bond ruling after he denied murder charges.

He pleaded not guilty before Lady Justice Diana Mochache of the High Court in Kibera.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) requested to detain the accused for seven more days for the suspect to be taken for a mental assessment.

Mutinda's lawyer had urged the court to grant his client a cash bail of Sh100, 000 arguing that he has been cooperating with the investigating officers.

The lawyer told the court that the suspect is not a flight risk as he does not hold a passport and he has a fixed place of abode in Sultan Hamud Township in Makueni County.

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• Mother's emotional plea to court

Justice Mochache ordered a probation officer's report to help the court in determining if the suspect is eligible for bail and bond and what would be the appropriate terms.

She detained Mutinda at the Nairobi Area Remand and Allocation Prison until May 29.

Justice Mochache also directed that Mutinda be taken for the mental assessment and told the defense and the victim's family to exchange applications, including Kwamboka's affidavit, which will be supplied to Mutinda's lawyer.