Grief filled the High Court in Kibera on Monday as Teresiah Kemunto, the mother of slain Multimedia University student Sylvia Kemunto, took the witness stand.
Teresiah was testifying in the murder trial of Eric Mutinda, who is accused of killing her daughter.
Overcome with emotion, she broke down several times as she described the events leading to Sylvia’s disappearance. At one point, she struggled to stand, forcing the court to pause. Presiding judge Diana Kavedza asked her to calm down and take a short break before continuing.
Teresiah told the court that she had received phone calls from a man who introduced himself as Eric. She said Sylvia immediately recognised the caller as the man who had been harassing her and whose number she had previously blocked.
She testified that Eric had once taken Sylvia’s phone, forcing her to contact the university to intervene.
“The school did not take immediate action after Sylvia reported the matter. I had to call the school myself. Eric was summoned, and the phone was returned,” she told the court.
When Sylvia failed to return home, Teresiah said she began searching for her by calling friends and the university. After failing to find her, she reported the matter to Lang’ata Police Station.
She said detectives later went to the university to investigate. During their visit, Eric allegedly fled after being questioned, raising suspicion.
Teresiah also told the court that Sylvia’s hostel room appeared to have been tampered with, prompting detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to inspect both hostels.
Despite efforts to trace her daughter, she said the missing person report initially went missing, forcing her to push police to escalate the case. She also pleaded with officers not to publicise her daughter’s disappearance.
Tracking data later showed that Sylvia was still within the university compound, but she could not be found.
Her voice shook as she recalled receiving a phone call on a Thursday evening informing her that Sylvia had been found dead.
“I went to the City Mortuary and saw the body. It was swollen, and there were marks on her fingers,” she said, adding that she identified her daughter using her nail polish.
Represented by family lawyer Danstan Omari, Teresiah told the court she raised Sylvia as a single mother and struggled to educate her due to financial challenges.
Sylvia had scored an A-minus in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations and hoped to study medicine, but financial constraints forced her to pursue computer science at Multimedia University.
“She wanted to study medicine at the University of Nairobi, but I could not afford it,” Teresiah said, adding that friends helped her raise school fees.
She described Sylvia as ambitious, kind, and loving, saying her death was a huge loss to the family.
During cross-examination, Teresiah said Sylvia had rejected Eric’s advances and that she was not aware of any romantic relationship between them.
Sylvia’s body was later found in a water tank on the rooftop of a hostel building within the university.
Mutinda has denied the charges.
The trial continues as the prosecution presents more witnesses to establish the events that led to Sylvia Kemunto’s death.
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