NAIROBI, UGANDA: A 43-year-old catholic priest of St. Peter’s Church in Ruai Parish has died under unclear circumstances after spending a night out with is lover in a hotel in Murang’a County in Kenya.
According to the Kenyan police report, Fr. Joseph Kariuki Wanjiku, 43, checked into the hotel on Friday night accompanied by his girlfriend, Ruth Nduhi, a 32-year-old female.
“One Joseph Kariuki Wanjiku a k/m/a aged 43yrs old, a Catholic priest at Archdiocese of Nairobi and a farmer at Mangu area checked in at the said hotel together with his girlfriend who also happens to be her colleague at the workplace in Ruai,” it read in part.
Around 8 am on Saturday, the lady is said to have notified the hotel’s management that Kariuki was getting dizzy and unconscious, which prompted a visit to a nearby hospital.
Using the priest’s vehicle, a black Toyota harrier (KCM 853T), Ms Nduhi with the help of two hotel staffers rushed him to Kenol Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“They then rushed him to Kenol hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival while still aboard his motor vehicle Toyota Harrier black in colour,” the police report further read.
According to Murang’a county commander Kainga Mathiu, police officers found the body in the back seat of the car half-covered with hotel bedsheets.
The priest, cops said, had white foam oozing from the mouth and the nose.
Drinks and food
Crime scene investigators processed the hotel room where the two ‘lovebirds’ had spent the night and the priest’s car.
“Samples of drinks and food consumed by the two were collected and preserved for further analysis…the woman was questioned and she gave an account – from the time they entered the room to the moment of tragedy,” Mr Njeru said.
He said the body of the priest had been taken to Mater Hospital mortuary in Nairobi where a post-mortem would be conducted to further determine the cause of the priest’s death.
Catholic leaders remained tight-lipped on the incident, with Muranga Catholic head Maria Wainaina saying, ‘Let’s wait for due process’.
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