Ivy Wangechi was a role model, her family says

Ivy Wangechi's family address at their home in Thika on April 14, 2019. The medical student will be buried on April 18. PHOTO | MARY WAMBUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Family said Ivy Wangechi was a role model to her siblings and cousins.
  • Ivy's uncle, Mr John Kingori, said she respected her elders and interacted well with her peers.
  • Her mother said she was robbed of a loving daughter who always showered her with gifts.

Slain Moi University student Ivy Wangechi will be buried on Thursday next week at her parent’s home in Mahiga, Nyeri County, her family has announced.

On Sunday the family addressed the media for the first time since the brutal death of the medical student, whom they said was a loving daughter and a role model to her siblings.

Speaking at their home in Makongeni Phase 10 Estate in Thika, Ivy's parents said they received news of her death with shock and disbelief.

Mr John King'ori, the family's spokesperson and Ivy's uncle, said they have let justice take its course.

"We want to believe that they [police] are doing their best. The law must take its course. It's not for us as a family to dictate which way it should go but the law is very clear on what happened," said Mr King'ori.

He said more meetings shall be held starting next week, both in Thika and Nairobi, ahead of the burial.

ROLE MODEL

The family said Ivy was a role model to her siblings and cousins, a friend anyone would have wished to have and a lovable young woman who interacted well with her peers and elders.

Ivy's mother, Ms Winfred Waithera, said the phone call from the Moi University School of Health Sciences' dean marked her darkest hour in her life.

"I cannot visualise how tomorrow will be without my sweetest Ivy who had turned into my mentor and caretaker," she said.

Ivy’s mother said her daughter was fond of showering her with gifts and looked forward to giving her presents during the Easter holiday.

"When she came home, I'd expect a pair of earrings, a purse or perfume. Even when I went to college after her death, her friends told me she had bought some supplements that she was to bring over the Easter holiday. My daughter was a great girl," she said.

Regarding her good sense of fashion, Ivy's mother said her daughter was blessed to have had the ability to successfully combine fashion and medicine.

BLOGGERS

But the family rebuked a section of bloggers for allegedly spreading lies about Ivy, which they said have caused the family much pain and distress.

"Immediately Ivy passed away, even before the family got hold of the news, character vandals went overdrive spreading false and damaging information about somebody they did not know and had no reason to attack. We are asking Kenyans to stop that habit," said Mr King'ori.

Ivy’s family said the medical student was never materially supported by anyone besides her kin.

"It is with a lot of regret that I've learnt of an Ivy that only exists in the world of social media. As her mother, I want to state that no one paid her fees apart from her parents and the government through the Joint Admissions Board (JAB). She never deferred her studies and never sat a supplementary exam all through her medical studies," Ivy's mother said.