Woman slept as sister’s body lay under her bed
A witness on Thursday recounted how she slept a whole night unaware that her murdered sibling’s body lay under her bed at a rental house in Nairobi two years ago.
Nancy Bosibori Mogambi also told a trial court how a man charged with her sister’s murder initially accompanied her to a police station to report the disappearance before he was linked to the offense.
Ms Mogambi was testifying in a case which Elly Waga Omondi is charged with the murder of Ms Ednah Mogambi on March 25 2012 in Mbotela Teleposta staff quarters, Nairobi.
In the case, the prosecution says that the assailant first raped the former Kenyatta University student before killing her and stashing her body under the bed .
“I arrived home at around 8 pm and found the key at the window where we normally kept it. I then opened the door but I did not see anything unusual… I thought she had gone to see her friends,” said Ms Bosibori who explained that she then stayed in the bedroom for a while before retiring for the night.
SISTER’S LONG ABSENCE
“The following morning (February 26, 2012) I woke up at around 7 am but my sister had not yet turned up. I did not take it seriously because at times she spent the night out. I locked the main door and placed the key at the window where she could pick from on arrival,” the witness said.
Ms Bosibori said she left for college and returned at around 3 pm “ I noticed that my sister had not turned up yet and the clothes she had washed were still on the hanging line outside,” she recalled.
The witness said she left the house to visit an aunt at the nearby Makongeni estate and returned at around 9.30 pm Still, her sister had not turned up.
“My sister’s long absence and that the fact that her phone remained off frightened me. Since I was alone, I sat on the bed and impulsively decided to check under the bed using the light on my phone,” she said.
Ms Bosibori said that she saw part of the toes of her sister’s leg and immediately rushed outside to a friend who she found outside and “told him I had seen my sister under the bed”. The “friend” was Mr Waga, the accused.
She said he accompanied her to Makongeni police station to file a report before he was later linked to the murder.
NEWS OF DEATH
On Thursday, Mr Livingstone Lihanda, a forensic expert, testifying in the case told the court that the deceased’s phone was traced to Mr Waga’s house during investigations.
“I was accompanied by the investigating officer, Mr John Shegu, on February ,28 2012. We closed in until we reached the phone which was in the accused person’s house,” Mr Lihanda said.
He said that during investigations the deceased’s phone, which had been switched off, indicated it was within 100 meters from the crime scene.
Earlier, the deceased’s father Zablon Mogambi recounted how her daughter, the key witness, called him to break the chilling news of the death.
“She told me she had seen Ednah’s leg under their bed. I found my way to Mbotela where they were living and a big crowd had gathered around the house,” he said.
Mr Mogambi said he got into the bedroom and saw her daughter’s lifeless body. “ They told me my daughter had been killed and hidden under the bed, at the morgue I was told she had also been raped,” Mr Mogambi said.
The hearing continues on March 9, 2015.