This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
On Tuesday evening, a tragic incident unfolded in Kisumu, leaving a young woman dead and a community in shock. The victim, 18-year-old Dorcas Jamilla, a first-year student at Kisumu Polytechnic, was pursuing a course in procurement.
According to sources, Jamilla's altercation with her boyfriend played out on social media before the man reportedly waylaid her while she was heading to a cyber café and killed her. The incident occurred at around 5 pm along the Kisumu-Kakamega highway near her parents' home.
Yesterday, the police confirmed that Jamilla was attacked at Riat, and the suspect was found hiding in a thicket near the scene of the crime. The suspect, a 27-year-old man, was arrested and is being held at Kondele Police Station pending a psychiatric test.
Investigations into the killing have been launched, with officers speaking to the couple's friends and those found at the scene of the crime after the victim sent out a distress call. The suspect, a former student at Maseno University, had written a long post on his Facebook wall lamenting that Jamilla wanted to dump him despite the sacrifices he had made for her.
"Be careful when you love that girl you see on my profile picture. She has killed me. Real love is not there and can never exist. I am the first man in her life but now I stink to her and her family who thinks I will waste their daughter because I am poor," the suspect is said to have posted online.
Jamilla's mother, Isca Ouma, a second-hand clothes dealer, had warned the man against seeing her daughter, citing concerns about his interference with her studies. The mother had also complained to the suspect's parents about the relationship, but they reportedly told her they were not aware of their son's frustrations.
