Our son didn’t commit suicide, parents of Moi University student speak out

Parents of a Moi University second-year student, Japheth Mungai, have denied social media claims that their son committed suicide.

Speaking on Monday, December 16, 2019, at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) mortuary, Mungai’s parents insisted that their son was brutally murdered and the killers tried to make it look like suicide.

Mungai’s body was found hanging on a rope in one of the classrooms at the Moi University Main Campus in Eldoret. His hands were tied up.

According to Mungai’s father, Charles Kinyanjui, his son was at home in Nyahururu for the long holiday and had told him of his intention to travel to Moi University to collect his belongings.

Mungai’s parents were opposed to his travel idea but the 23-year-old left home on Tuesday morning without informing them.

“No parent would stand seeing photos of his child’s body hanging lifeless on a rope. This is pure foul play and we want the police to bring to book those who killed my son. He did not deserve to die like that in his own school,” said Mr Kinyanjui.

Mungai’s mother, Monica Mungai, said her son’s phone went off the very day he travelld from his home and efforts to reach him were futile until Saturday morning when a friend called his elder brother after news of his death went viral on social media.

“We were contemplating to report to police after we failed to reach him for three consecutive days on phone before his friend called my first-born son with the sad news on Saturday morning. Basically, as a family we got the information from friends who had seen it on social media. The institution we chose for our son is yet to make any official communication despite having our contact information,” she said.

The family is waiting for post-mortem results but maintain the suicide narrative was staged by their son’s killers to throw police off their trail.

Cases of insecurity at the Moi University Main Campus have become a big concern for students with Mungai’s death coming on the heels of another murder incident last month in which a fourth-year student was found dead in one of the hostels.

Uasin Gishu County Police commander Johnstone Ipara said police have launched investigation into the Saturday night incident and are currently on the trail of Mungai’s friends who were last seen with him before his death and have since gone missing.