Mercy Kwamboka’s final moments paint a chilling picture of brutality. The 20-year-old University of Nairobi student, whose lifeless body was discovered dumped in a thicket in Mwiki, was tortured before being left for dead.
Her disappearance after receiving a mysterious phone call at 11 pm from her home in Pipeline marked the beginning of a nightmare for her family which is now demanding justice for their slain daughter.
The harrowing details of Kwamboka’s ordeal have shocked Kenyans. Her mother, Stella Kerubo, struggled to recount the horrific injuries her daughter endured.
“Her leg was broken like a sugarcane and her hands were doused with acid,” she revealed to Citizen TV on Wednesday. These injuries, evidence of the savage torture, leave no doubt that Kwamboka's captors intended to send a brutal message.
A witness at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the horror of finding her body. One, who feared for his safety, explained how Kwamboka was discovered half-naked, her phone and Ksh1,000 lying beside her.
“She was trying to crawl, to walk, but it was clear something had happened before she was brought here. A car came, left, and returned,” the witness recalled, pointing to the chilling possibility that her assailants had revisited the scene to ensure their crime was complete.
The presence of Kwamboka’s phone and money at the scene fuels speculation that her captors had no intention of robbing her but were focused on taking her life. It also raises questions about the nature of the call that lured her from her home that fateful night. Why would someone target a university student in such a gruesome manner?
For Kwamboka’s family, the pain of her loss is worsened by the brutal way she was killed. Her mother’s anguish is palpable as she seeks answers. “We need justice. How could someone do this to her?”
The community around Chiromo Campus, where she studied, is equally shaken, as many question how such violence could befall a young woman with her whole future ahead of her.
Police are piecing together the final hours of Kwamboka’s life. Investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have begun combing through her phone records, hoping to uncover the identity of the caller who summoned her that night.
The government does not compile statistics on female homicides. However, Femicide Count Kenya tracked 58 femicides from January to October 2022. The following year saw a disturbing rise, with the organisation recording at least 152 femicides—the highest number reported in the past five years.
The true number of femicides remains unclear, with the numbers cited representing figures that reflect only those cases covered in the media—meaning the actual number is likely far higher.
On average, a woman or girl was killed every other day, frequently at the hands of a husband, boyfriend, father, or other family member. Estimates from investigative platforms Africa Uncensored and Africa Data Hub indicate that approximately 500 Kenyan women were murdered between 2017 and 2024.
