Last year Peninah Wanjiru was picked up by a man at the modern green bar in Nairobi CBD. She was found murdered three days later and body parts dumped at Dandora dumpsite. Bar Hostess Empowerment and support programme an NGO for sex workers and bar hostess took up the case and have been following up on the murder case. Together with Peninah’s friends the BHESP Advocacy officer attended the funeral and swore to seek justice for Peninah who left behind three children.
This was the 15th gruesome murder of sex workers in less than two years.
Would we ever find the murderer?
We were reminded of serial murders of sex workers in Nakuru, Kisii, and Thika a few years ago. These women didn’t deserve to die this way, they did not deserve to die at all. They were young women out in streets and clubs aching out a living for their children.
Why kill them? Certainly not for money!
We reported the case, the CCTV camera was able to show the last person who walked out with Peninah.
Would they catch him though?
There was little hope and from experience, we know that the keen doesn’t follow up on such cases. They are ashamed, afraid to admit their keen was picked up in a bar.
We are happy with the way the investigation is going but we ask for more. A year before Peninah’s gruesome Murder, in 2018, Cyprosa was picked up at Sabina Joy night club, her body parts were found in Umoja and Nasra. Both cases were reported in Buru Buruburu police station. We ask the police to follow up on the reported murders of sex workers.
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