Catherine Njeri: Events Leading To Student Falling 7 Floors To Her Death

A caretaker of an apartment in Gacharage, Ruaka where Catherine Njeri, a 23-year-old student from the Kenya Institute of Management, fell to her death, opened the lid on events that led to the unfortunate incident.

The incident saw five people arrested in connection with Njeri's death after she allegedly fell from the seventh floor and will remain in custody for 10 days as police conclude investigations into the incident.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, May 23, the caretaker noted that Njeri had visited her friend for a party at their apartment before tragedy struck while she was on the rooftop with the friend’s boyfriend.

An apartment in Gacharage, Ruaka where Catherine Njeri was alleged to have fallen to her death. /CITIZEN TV

At around 9:30 pm, Njeri left the house in the company of her friend’s boyfriend and went to the rooftop which has a pavilion. The caretaker, however, could not account for the intention of the victim and the friend's boyfriend nor how much time they spent on the rooftop.

At around 11 pm, the caretaker heard a loud thud similar to the sound of a falling carpet and upon getting to the scene, he found the lady lying in a pool of blood.

From the photos, the lady was half naked, lying face flat on the floor and her head covered in blood. The body of the late Njeri was taken to Kihara Hospital mortuary by police awaiting the postmortem exercise to determine the cause of her death.

"As the deceased's family, we want to find out whether she was pushed to her death or whether she jumped and what exactly transpired on the rooftop," Victoria Njeri, the deceased's sister, said.

Kiambaa Deputy County Commissioner Peter Maina confirmed the arrest of three men and two women in connection to the incident.

“At the time of the incident she was in the company of five people in that room and those are the people in custody now helping police with investigations," said Maina.

While the incident adds to the chain of events involving victims falling from residential apartments, this is the first one occurring outside Kasarani and Roysambu which became notorious for more than five similar incidents and the first one which involved arrests.

Joseph Kubende, Elizabeth Wanjiru Githinji, Brenda Kawira, Blair Muthomi and Jeff Mwathi all fell to their deaths from the apartment, with the latter, being the most significant, seeing DJ Fatxo cleared of murder charges despite opposition from the deceased's family.