- Nine-year-old Shantel Waruguru from Nyeri went missing on February 8 and was found dead two days later, prompting a DCI investigation
- Makachero arrested Peter Njuguna, who allegedly lured his sister Shantel with money, then committed the crime and dumped her body in his toilet
- DCI prosecutors condemned the killing as an attack on the morals of society, vowed justice for Shantel’s family, and obtained a 21-day detention order to investigate further.
A man from Mathira area in Nyeri County is in police custody while detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) are investigating the circumstances in which the child died.
Source: Twitter
Nine-year-old Shantel Waruguru went missing on Sunday, February 8, and was found dead two days later.
According to detectives, the suspect, identified as Peter Njugna, committed an “unspeakable act against Shantel before mercilessly dumping her in his pit toilet”.
How Shantel Waruguru met her tragic death
On Sunday morning, Shantel’s parents left the house and left her to take care of her 4-year-old sister.
But when they came back around 6:30 in the evening, like DCI reports, the parents were faced with the heartbreaking discovery that Shantel was missing.
They immediately reported the matter to the police, who started searching for their son.
The officers came across clothes and shoes that Shantel’s parents confirmed were hers.
“The parents wasted no time in notifying law enforcement officers, leading to a frantic search that revealed signs of disturbance; underwear and shoes, found on an old blue mattress in an abandoned house nearby. Sadly, Shantel’s mother confirmed that the items belonged to her daughter,” DCI said.
Following the discovery, officers from the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) carefully investigated and documented the crime scene and collected underwear and shoes as evidence.
How the DCI found the suspect of Shantel Waruguru’s murder
Meanwhile, a manhunt for the suspect was launched, and intelligence quickly identified Njuguna as the prime suspect.
After his arrest and subsequent questioning, Njuguna directed detectives to the tragic location where he had dumped Shantel’s body in his pit latrine.
With help from the public, detectives recovered Shantel’s body and moved it to a morgue for storage and an autopsy.
Preliminary findings revealed that on the day of the incident, Njuguna, a nearby resident, persuaded Shantel’s younger sister to leave by giving her KSh 10 to buy sweets.
The sister being absent for a while, she was left alone with Shantel, where the crime was committed.
Source: Twitter
When they appeared in court today, detectives obtained a 21-day remand order to detain the suspect, allowing them to conduct a thorough investigation.
DCI, while sharing the grief and pain of Shantel’s family, condemned the murder, promising justice to the bereaved family.
“This heinous crime against the innocent Shantel Waruguru Kagema is not just an attack on one family, but an attack on the foundation of our communities and our collective conscience. We stand with Shantel’s grieving family and every parent across the country in declaring that the perpetrators of such unspeakable acts against children will face the full force of the law,” the DCI said.
The missing girl was found a day later dead and her body buried in the suspect’s house
Cases of children forcibly disappearing and later found dead have previously been reported in Nyeri.
In May last year, a little girl who went missing in Majengo Nyeri Urban was found dead and buried under the bed of a suspected murderer.
Baby Tamara was reported missing over the weekend, prompting a massive search to find her.
Sadly, hopes of reuniting with her family were dashed when her lifeless body was discovered inside the house.
The suspect, a popular local porter (beba beba), was arrested and detained at the Nyeri Police Station ahead of his arraignment.
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