Uncle from hell? Man arrested over death of little girl thrown from balcony
Five-year-old Amanda Mutheu.
Residents of the Jacaranda Gardens estate in Nairobi’s Kasarani are still in shock from the tragic incident that robbed them of a young, promising child, Amanda Mutheu.
Amanda, five, who was beloved by many residents, was pronounced dead on Wednesday night after allegedly being dropped from the second floor by her uncle.
It was unclear what led to the incident that left neighbours in disbelief, with distressing videos later surfacing online. The suspect was later arrested and is in police custody.
Murder mystery
According to Peter Ijono, the security guard who was on duty on the fateful night, the uncle was playing with Amanda at around 5pm but appeared to have turned against her a few hours later.
Mr Ijono told the Nation that during his evening patrol to ensure everything was in order in the estate, he saw the man with the little girl, who was skating.
At that hour, the guard did not witness any signs of danger from the man since they were both laughing as he cheered on Amanda.
“Amanda and the uncle were playing on the ground while the nanny was standing next to them. I heard the uncle telling Amanda to remove her shoes and promised her Sh500 if she would catch him. I concluded that it was a play between the uncle and the child,” Mr Ijono said.
Later on, while still patrolling, Mr Ijono heard noise from Bloc C4, from the house rented to Amanda’s mother.
It did not take long before the security guard heard a bang on the ground.
At first, he thought it was an object or piece of clothing that the uncle had thrown down. However, the noise from the neighbours forced him to rush over and check
“After dropping the child down, I heard him shouting that, ‘I am coming down there for you’. He jumped down like Spiderman and knocked her to the ground. That is when I rushed and pushed him away,” Mr Ijono said, referring to the alleged actions of the uncle.
At that time, Amanda was barely breathing and was motionless despite blinking her eyes.
Five-year-old Amanda Mutheu.
Amidst the tension and commotion, a neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, used her jumper to cover Amanda, who was naked.
“All this time, I did not want to believe that what I saw being dropped was a child. When I rushed down, everybody was scared. I went straight to the child. I checked the pulse. She was breathing and her eyes were half closed. That’s when I started calling for help,” the neighbour said.
One of the neighbours offered to rush the child to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead a few minutes later.
At that time, the mother was still at work, but she later rushed to Kenyatta University Referral Hospital, where the girl was being attended to.
According to the neighbor, who was among the first people to arrive at the scene, the nanny told them that she was dressing up the little girl before the uncle came into the room and grabbed Amanda
“She was too young to experience that bad situation. It was the cruelest thing I have ever experienced in my life, knowing how loving, charming and happy she was,” the neighbor said.
She alleged that from the way the uncle was behaving, he intended to kill the child, since he followed her downstairs and hit her again.
“How can you throw a child from the second floor and then come down and hit her again. He intended to finish her,” she said as the calls for justice to Amanda intensified.
The nanny refused to speak to the media but through her friend, who sought anonymity, she said the uncle followed Amanda to bedroom and slapped her. As the nanny rushed to protect the child, but was also attacked by the uncle. She then rushed to open the door and call for help from her neighbours while the confused child went to hide on the balcony, only for her uncle to follow her.
In one of the clips that were shared from the scene, the nanny is seen holding the baby as the neighbours turned on the uncle.
Kasarani sub-County police boss Emmanuel Rono confirmed that they have the suspect in custody, and that they were granted 17 days by the Makadara Law Court to hold him as investigations continue.
“The house help was still in shock. She was not able to explain what really happened in detail but the way the uncle came in is that he was agitated, like he was under the influence of alcohol and immediately got the child. We are yet to find out if there was an argument in the investigation that is ongoing,” Mr Rono said.
Officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kasarani said that during the 17 days, they will ensure that the suspect’s mental health is checked before taking a plea.
The postmodern outcome revealed that Amanda succumbed to a head injury that she sustained after being dropped and repeatedly assaulted.