Double blow: Grieving mother speaks on brutal murders of son, daughter

Felista Wayua stood outside a room at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, her gaze distant, eyes teary, lips pressed together and anguish and uncertainty written all over her face.

The weight of grief overwhelmed her as she awaited the completion of a postmortem on her 20-year-old daughter, Sarah Ndunge, who was stabbed to death days before in Kinyago, California Ward. The suspect is her 22-year-old boyfriend.

Wayua went to the hospital on Wednesday morning with the hope that the postmortem was a step forward in the quest for justice for her child.

The incident was reminiscent of the murder in 2021 of her 12-year-old son by serial killer Masten Milimu Wanjala. Wanjala.

A lively girl

Ndunge was allegedly stabbed by her lover on the evening of January 28, 2024.

Wayua remembers her as a lively girl who had just started a business in Gikomba after completing her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams last November.

"In her cheerful mood, she sat us all down and discussed her new life and business. We didn’t know that would be the last time we would hear from her," she says.

Felista Wayua, who has lost two children to murder, reacts during an interview with journalists. (Photo: Kevin Muthoni)

Ndunge's friend, Anges Nduta, claimed her boyfriend beat her up several times and would send her threats by phone.

That fateful day, he reportedly called Ndunge and asked her to meet him so they could talk and make up following a disagreement.

“He wanted her to forgive him as they had fought a few days before," Nduta said, adding that Ndunge had run away from the man and did not want to go back.

"They went to the field as I went home, and a few minutes later I heard a knock on the door and was told Ndunge had been rushed to the hospital after she was stabbed in her upper shoulder," she said.

"I ran to the clinic where she was taken in Biafra, but she was rushed to Mother and Child Hospital, where she died.

A neighbour said Ndunge and her boyfriend were talking at the field when the argument ensued. The neighbour said it was then that the man grabbed a weapon and stabbed her.

Ndunge screamed and fell to the ground but the boyfriend ran away.

The postmortem found that she died from excessive bleeding.

Residents and local leaders have called for the boyfriend's arrest but the 22-year-old is still at large.

Ndung'u will be buried on Wednesday but the location has not yet been revealed.

A grave betrayal

The same sorrow engulfs Wayua when she speaks of her son and his murder - a case she says was of deceit and betrayal of trust.

Wanjala, a confessed serial killer, drugged and murdered more than 10 boys in Nairobi between 2019 and 2021, among them Wayua's son.

“Wanjala lied to my son that he was a football coach, took him to the playground, and gave him a phone to play games on as he prepared to go with him to Kitengela," she says.

"He cooked food for the both of them and went with him to Kabete, where he committed the heinous crime. He brutally and viciously murdered my son.”

Wanjala met a brutal death after escaping from police custody in October 2020. He was killed by a mob in Bungoma County.

Felista Wayua, who has lost two children to murder, reacts during an interview with journalists. (Photo: Kevin Muthoni)

Community efforts

Wayua and her family are preparing to bury Ndunge on Wednesday in Masii, Machakos County.

In an interview, she appealed for communities to unite in protecting each other and fighting these and other crimes.

"We must come together to support those affected and demand justice to prevent such tragedies from recurring," she said.

Ndunge was murdered just two days after nationwide protests against femicide, with women's organisations, leaders and the public asking the government to declare femicide a national emergency and a threat to national security.

According to Amnesty International Kenya, at least 10 women have been killed in the country since January 1.

Data collected by Femicide Count Kenya shows at least 504 women have been brutally murdered since 2019, and a report released in January by OdipoDev says that 75 per cent of femicides in Kenya are committed by intimate partners and relatives and 15 per cent are committed by strangers.

As part of efforts to prosecute cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), Kenya launched a special court in 2022 to make it easier for victims to report the crimes. This was a year after the National Police Service opened PoliCare centres.

But activists say Kenya's women are failed by the legal system. Research by OdipoDev reveals that it takes an average of 1,900 days before a femicide suspect is sentenced.