Gitonga Njogu told a local daily that initial reports suggested his daughter, the firstborn in a family of four children, died in a road accident.
He said Nyokabi was hard-working, cheerful, and very loving with a promising future.
The father also said he knew Karani as his daughter had introduced him as her suitor.
“I KNEW THEM TO BE LOVERS. JUST LIKE IN ANY OTHER RELATIONSHIP, THEY HAD DIFFERENCES, WHICH I WOULD HELP THEM IRON OUT,” HE SAID.
He added,
Her ex-Evans Karani was arrested after his car was found stuck in mud in Witeithie area, Juja with the body of Nyokabi, 25.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Karani attempted to discard Nyokabi’s body, but his car got stuck in the mud on Bob Harris road in Juja. Karani fled the scene leaving the car with the body inside.
Curious passers-by who saw the abandoned car alerted the police after peeping in and seeing a dead body inside.
DCI detectives traced the car to Karana after verification from the National Transport and Safety Authority’s Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
A hunt for Karani was, consequently, launched by a multi-agency team comprising police, DCI officers, and the agency’s Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) officers.
The search led the team to a rented house in Kimbo where the suspect was arrested on Friday.
Upon interrogation, police said the suspect confessed to killing Nyokabi, a hotel worker in Kahawa Wendani, following a bitter conflict, which started two weeks ago, before the deceased jilted him. Karani, who is married, told police that the two had been dating for a while before the intense squabble that led to the loss of Nyokabi’s life.
The authorities said Nyokabi’s body was badly disfigured and it is suspected that she had been burnt using a corrosive chemical.
Besides the burn injuries, she had bruises on the face and head, a possibility that she was tortured before being killed.
Karani is being held in custody at the Juja Police Station. He will be arraigned on Monday, April 19, when detectives would seek to detain him longer to allow for investigations to be completed.