- CCTV footage and witness accounts reviewed by detectives show Yvonne leaving the school calm and in good health, walking along the main road
- Her disappearance was reported at Kandara Police Station on July 2, after she failed to return home
- Yvonne’s mother, Monica Wakahiu, has faulted the school for expelling a minor in the absence of a parent or guardian.
Police have launched a search for a Murang’a County student who went missing after being expelled from school over wearing a miniskirt and having dyed hair, in a case that has left her family clinging to hope for her safe return.
According to one of the local dailies, the Grade 10 student, Yvonne Wanjiru, had reported back to St Charles Lwanga High School from midterm break on June 30 and was expelled the following morning at 8 a.m. Her disappearance was reported at Kandara Police Station on July 2, after she failed to return home.
County Police Commander Cleti Kimaiyo said initial investigations established that the school called Yvonne’s mother, Monica Wakahiu, at 8:30 a.m. on July 1 to inform her that her daughter had been expelled. According to Kimaiyo, Wakahiu had asked the institution to delay the expulsion by a day so she could hold a meeting with the school and her daughter, a request the school agreed to.
However, investigations revealed that Yvonne had already left the school before the institution placed that call to her mother. “What the school had not disclosed was that the student had already left the institution. That was the last confirmed sighting of her. She never made it back to her parent’s home in Kihoni, Kandara Constituency, and efforts to trace her are ongoing,” Kimaiyo said.
CCTV footage and witness accounts reviewed by detectives show Yvonne leaving the school calm and in good health, walking along the main road.
Detectives subsequently traced and questioned a man who had been in phone contact with the teenager, after establishing through digital analysis that a number found written in one of Yvonne’s exercise books at home had frequently communicated with a phone she had been using during the midterm break.
Kimaiyo said the man was cooperating with investigators, but a search of his home did not turn up the missing girl, prompting police to widen the search. Officers have since checked hospitals and mortuaries across the county without success.
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Yvonne’s mother, Monica Wakahiu, has faulted the school for expelling a minor in the absence of a parent or guardian. “My daughter was entitled to a fair hearing before any disciplinary action was taken. As a minor, she should have been heard in the presence of a guardian. If the school decided to expel her, she should have been released to a parent or escorted home,” she said.
Wakahiu has appealed to members of the public for help in reuniting her with her daughter. “I appeal to anyone who may be living with her or has employed her to release her and let her come home. If she is out in the streets, I urge Kenyans to help bring her back. I refuse to believe any harm has befallen her. I still have hope that she is alive,” she said.
Yvonne’s aunt, Anne Njeri, said the family continues to pray tirelessly for her safe return.
Police said the search has now been expanded to neighbouring counties and major public transport terminals as detectives continue pursuing fresh leads in the case.
By Bernard Magada
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