Five Sudanese nationals arrested over mysterious death of ‘mama fua’ in Kilimani

Detectives from Kilimani Police Station are currently probing the mysterious death of Zaituni Kavaya, a 54-year-old woman and resident of Kibera.

Kavaya had been contracted for laundry work on the fifth floor of an apartment building located on Mpunga Road in Kilimani.

Five suspects from a family of Sudanese origin have since been arrested and are being held at Kilimani Police Station. 

Kavaya’s family from Kibera is mourning after their mother died under suspicious circumstances while in the hands of her employer, who had summoned her for cleaning duties.

This followed a phone call received by her daughter, Faith, from Kilimani Police Station, asking her to report to the station after repeated calls to her mother went unanswered. Fearing the worst, she arrived carrying her mother’s tea.

“I told them this tea will get cold, let me give it to mom when she comes so she can drink, then they broke the news to me and said my mother had died. The only thing we were told was that she had fallen from the apartment building, but no other details were given. When we went to City Mortuary, we found it was my mother. She had left home healthy, and I expected her to come back safe,” Faith Kavaya noted. 

According to court documents presented during the suspects’ detention hearing, the incident allegedly stemmed from a dispute involving a missing sum of money.

The son of the household claimed he had lost cash from a pair of trousers that had been washed by Kavaya.

“The son of the house did not find his money in one of his pockets and therefore he called her back. She had left, but he called her to ask about the missing money. From the testimony, she denied taking any money. As they insisted on reporting to the police, she allegedly tried to escape and fell from the balcony,” said Wilson Hassan Nandwa, defense attorney for the suspects.

“When I went to collect her belongings at the DCI office, I found only Ksh.160 in her purse, slippers, a dress and rubbers. There was nothing else. She had already left work, but was called back only to end up dead,” Faith added. 

Postmortem results from Nairobi City Mortuary revealed that Kavaya died from multiple injuries inflicted by blunt force trauma.

“I want the truth and justice because she was everything in our lives. We have no one else to cry to,” Faith stated. 

“There is no way foreigners should be killing our people here in Kenya. Where do we run to if this continues? I am asking the President to ensure these foreigners do not kill our people,” added another family member.