Dickens Juma, the father of 11-year-old Tiffany Achieng' who was brutally murdered after being defiled on Sunday, December 30, recounts the events of the fateful day his family suffered the worst end of year tragedy they could ever have anticipated.
In an emotional interview with Kenyans.co.ke, the father of two narrated how his last morning with his daughter saw her excitedly dash off accompanied by her grandmother to a church wedding rehearsal in Paala area, Lwanda Village in Homa Bay County.
Achieng', he said was a jovial Class Four pupil at the Ogomi Academy and the firstborn in a family of two children. She would later come home for lunch the same day, but returned to the church as she was scheduled to be a flower girl in a wedding ceremony the following day, Sunday, December 29, 2019.
The church, he highlighted was at a distance from her home, however, she and two of her friends boarded a motorcycle, after the rehearsal and were dropped off at what he says was around 4 p.m. in the evening.
He was informed by one of her friends whom she alighted with, that she insisted on having her friends escort her home to collect a few items in order for her to go and spend the night with them.
However, her friends declined arguing that it was getting a bit late and so she was then reported to have returned home and turned back to reunite with them.
A neighbour whom he identified as Abig who also recorded a statement with the police claimed that the girl had been seen at 5:30 p.m. along the road but was being followed by a 'tall man' who was from a distance that they were yet to identify.
Juma recounted that her daughter's body was discovered by the roadside at about 6:45 p.m. in the evening to the shock of the family that all along had not been worried about their daughter's whereabouts.
At the Ndhiwa Sub-County Hospital, where her body was taken, it was established that she had been raped. Afterwards DCI detectives were discharged to begin investigations into the matter.
He informed Kenyans.co.ke that he had suggested an optography - the theoretical process of retrieving an image on the retina of the eye that stems from an ancient belief that the eye "recorded" the last image seen before death - be performed. This was informed by his speculation that the attacker could be known to the family.
''My wife is unable to speak , as she cannot process why someone would maim and kill her daughter in that cruel manner.''
The family is now pushing authorities to speed up the investigations in order to bring closure to the young family rrobbed of their firstborn daughter days to the new year.
