By John Mutiso
New CCTV footage from Pipeline Estate has revealed what are believed to be the final moments of 12-year-old Patience Mumbe before her tragic death.Â
Multiple cameras installed in shops around the neighbourhood have provided detectives with crucial clues as investigations intensify.
According to the footage, Mumbe was first seen on Thursday, December 4, at around 6:30 pm running from her home.
A camera at a local shop captured her moving quickly before disappearing down a path about 200 metres away.
She then emerged on another road leading towards the Taj Mall bus stage, where a second CCTV camera recorded her walking briskly.
At one point, she looked back, seemingly checking whether she was being followed, before rushing towards the bus stop.
This marked the last time she was seen alive in Pipeline.
Two days later, her body was discovered in a ditch in KAA Estate, approximately five kilometres from where she was last captured on camera and about one kilometre from the Embakasi Police Station.
In addition to analysing the CCTV footage, officers are conducting a detailed site analysis by tracing all vehicles and mobile phones that were in the area on Saturday morning, December 6, hours before the body was discovered.
A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death is scheduled for Tuesday.
Residents who first came across the body described the horrifying moment of discovery.
“There were some children who were playing ball here; the ball fell in the ditch, and when they went to pick it up, they found the body of a schoolchild, a Grade 7 pupil. They alerted the watchmen, and that’s how we received the report and rushed here.
“We examined the body, but from the face we couldn’t tell whether the child was from Embakasi,” Henry Kibet, an Embakasi resident, explained.
Another resident, Jane Wanjiku, called for justice and raised concerns over the safety of children in the area.
“We want justice for that girl because, as parents, we are also afraid. There is a primary school here, and our daughters pass through this area. We also cannot use this path at night because we are scared; we don’t have security lights,” she said.
