Tears flow as family receives body of kin from Saudi Arabia

Tears flowed freely as the family of Margaret Ruguru received her body at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and viewed it at Nakuru's PNN Funeral Home.

The aircraft carrying the embalmed remains of Ruguru, 29, touched down at JKIA yesterday morning, at least seven months since she died in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under mysterious circumstances.

Her mother Lucy Muthoni was inconsolable as she viewed the body of her daughter who left the country in May 2021.

"It is painful. You left the country alive to look for a better life but you return in a casket. I don't know what to tell your young children. I wish to know what happened to you," she mourned.

Although documents from Saudi authorities and the hospital indicate that she died a natural death, it is suspected that she was assaulted by her employer.

In her last communication to the family on March 6, Ruguru informed her family that she had been given death threats by her employer over a missing TV remote control.

"How come the death certificate shows that she died on the same day she was threatened? This is not a coincidence. It was not a natural death but a conspiracy to cover up," said Muthoni.

Since then, the family lost communication with her. They sought help from her recruiting agent who lied to them that she had escaped from her employer's house.

"It was until October that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed us that our daughter had died. The agent again lied to the government that she had died in August yet it was in March," she said.

Michael Waweru, her father, said the agent lied to avoid catering for repatriation and mortuary costs.