Fear has engulfed congregants of Rongo Catholic Church after the body of a nun was found in a convent sewer within the church compound on Sunday, October 27.
The body was identified as that of Yvonne Jirangwa, a trainee catholic nun at the Rongo Parish Sister Convent who went missing on Thursday, October 24.
Confirming the incident, Homa Bay Diocese head priest Gabriel Atieno stated that the body was found floating inside a sewer pit within the convent by one of the nuns while running errands.
Following the nun’s missing, Father Otieno explained they reported the matter to the Rongo Police Station who immediately launched a probe to establish the trainee's whereabouts.
The 23-year-old nun had been in the convent for 3 years as a trainee. Father Otieno noted that they are yet to know what happened before the tragic incident and are working closely with the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the nun’s death.
According to the father, the deceased was involved in community outreach programs for the last three years.
He paid tribute to the deceased terming her demise as a blow to the parish as well as her immediate family.
On his part, Rongo Sub-County Police Commander Salim Fundi confirmed that he received a statement of the trainee’s disappearance on Thursday, 24.
Following the report of her missing, the police traced her before recovering the body of the nun in a sewer pit.
Rongo Sub-County police boss added that the body of the deceased was taken to Rosewood Hospital Mortuary awaiting an autopsy to establish the cause of her death.
According to statistics shared by the National Police Service (NPS), a comparative analysis of murder cases reported from August to October for the years 2022 to 2024 indicated a slight increase.
In 2024 alone, a total of 339 murder cases have so far been recorded compared with 336 cases in 2023 and 341 cases in 2022 for the same period.
