Man who killed his family, self made abduction claim

The man accused of killing his wife and three children had cut off communication with family and friends for four days and claimed he had been kidnapped, his mother said on Wednesday.

Speaking at her home in Karembu village, Nyeri County, Ms Cecilia Karuiru spoke of how the unfolding events in Patrick Nderitu’s family had worried them. 

The grief-stricken mother revealed that the day before Nderitu killed his wife and children, she was preparing to travel to Nairobi to meet him when she received the shocking news that he had died alongside his family.

Nevertheless, confused and heart-broken, she still travelled, only this time the destination was the City Mortuary where the bodies had been taken.

For four days before the tragedy, she told the Nation on Wednesday, the couple’s phones had been switched off.

On Thursday, Ms Karuiru narrated, Mr Nderitu’s wife had called to check on her. But when Ms Karuiru tried to call back the same evening, the couple’s phones were off.

She tried to reach them on phone again on Friday and Saturday with no success.

RECEIVED CALL

This prompted her to send her youngest son to visit the family and check on them. The son reported that the family was not at home.

On Sunday, she received a call from a stranger who introduced himself as his son’s neighbour. The caller informed her that Nderitu had been kidnapped but had escaped and was fine.

“I would have travelled to his home to understand what was really happening, but it was late,” she said.

In the evening, however, she received a call from the same number but this time, her son was on the line.

“I tried to inquire what had happened, but he dismissed it as a long story that could not be discussed over the phone. We agreed to meet tomorrow (Tuesday) morning since the information was sensitive,” said Ms Karuiru. He insisted that she visits him at his home in Juja.

TRAGEDY

At 7am on Tuesday, as she prepared to travel, she got a call informing her of the tragedy.

Ms Karuiru said the couple met in 2010 and settled in Juja where they rented a house and recently moved into their own.

The two had not reported to the family any issues in their marriage, she said, describing her son as a quiet person and the couple as being in love.

In Juja on Wednesday, police commander Patricia Nasio told Nation that an inquest will be held to establish the facts and motive behind the Monday killing of the family, as normal criminal procedure code.

ARSON

“Much as the main suspect in the case, Patrick Nderitu, died in the arson, an inquest will have to be opened to establish the facts that may have forced him to kill his wife, children and later torch his own house before taking his life,” said Ms Nasio.

She added that relatives and friends of Nderitu’s wife, Rosemary Kanini, who alleged that her husband had been conned by fraudsters, who reportedly duped him into depositing Sh500,000 into a bank before they could guarantee him a contract to supply building materials, will also be required to give a detailed account.

Kanini’s friends said she had been having problems with her husband for some time, while her sister Lydiah Mueke insisted Nderitu committed the killings after being conned by people he allegedly went to school with.