By Antynet Ford
A middle-aged man is in custody for questioning by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) after he was found with stab wounds in Thome apartments in Kasarani, where a 20-year-old woman had been before she fell to her death over the weekend.
Twenty-year-old Joan Mbula Nzomo was found on the ground floor half naked in the apartment where she had spent the previous night.
The deceased wore a red t-shirt at the time of the discovery of the body.
It is not yet clear if she was pushed, fell while trying to escape from something, or died by suicide.
When the police arrived at the scene, they found the short-stay accommodation room she spent the previous night locked.
The team contacted the owner of the room who arrived with a spare key and enabled them to access it.
Inside the room, they found an unconscious man who has since been identified as Lawrence Gitonga lying unconscious on the floor with eight stab wounds.
He had bled profusely, which prompted the team of detectives to rush him to hospital but under watch.
When he regained consciousness, he told police that the deceased lady had stabbed him.
The room looked disturbed which indicated there had been a struggle therein, police said.
Neighbors told police they heard the woman shouting for help on the balcony of the house before she fell.
DCI detectives spent the better part of Saturday morning combing through evidence and interviewing residents and management of the apartment.
The deceased wore a red t-shirt at the time of the discovery of the body.
It’s not clear if she was pushed, fell while trying to escape from something, or died by suicide, police said.
When police arrived at the scene hours after the tragic incident, they found the short-stay accommodation room she spent the previous night locked.
The team contacted the owner of the room who arrived with a spare key and enabled them to access it.
Inside the room, they found an unconscious man who has since been identified as Lawrence Gitonga lying unconscious on the floor with eight stab wounds.
He had bled profusely, which prompted the team of detectives to rush him to hospital but under watch.
When he regained consciousness, he told police that the deceased lady had stabbed him.
The room looked disturbed which indicated there had been a struggle therein, police said.
Neighbors told police they heard the woman shouting for help on the balcony of the house before she fell.
Detectives said there were blood-stained bed sheets and blood splattered on the bathroom walls and floor.
They suspect the man may have sought refuge in the bathroom after he was stabbed.
Detectives are keen to get answers on what transpired leading to the death of the woman.
“The deceased, according to our source, had no wounds. A postmortem has, however, been scheduled to establish how she died.” The detectives said.
Investigating officers collected forensic evidence and personal belongings and secured CCTV footage which they will examine to help in their investigations.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the woman met the man in one of the entertainment joints along Mirema Drive in Roysambu Friday night.
Hours later, they were seen dropping off one of their friends before heading to the apartments and later to a bar close to the apartments where they continued drinking inside a car.
Around 3 am Saturday, the two checked into the short-stay apartment they had booked on the 10th floor.
Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said they are waiting for Gitonga to stabilize so he can tell his side of the story as part of the probe into the lady’s death.
“For now he is the main suspect in this incident as we investigate it.” Bungei said.