Confusion erupts in WhatsApp group created by M-Pesa agent’s husband, turned suspect

New revelations into the death of Nakuru M-Pesa agent Hannah Waithera indicate that her husband formed a WhatsApp group to fundraise for her burial ceremony, days before his arrest.

Mr Zachary Wambugu, a car dealer who reported to the police a case of Ms Waithera’s abduction two hours after she went missing, formed a WhatsApp group whose objective was to raise funds and give updates on the plans for his deceased wife’s send off.

The WhatsApp group titled ‘Hannah Waithera Send Off' was formed on May 28 and had 223 members mainly his acquaintances and other people on his contact list including journalists who he interacted with when the case was reported.

Ms Waithera’s decomposing body was discovered dumped at Technology farm two days after she was reported missing from her workplace within Nakuru town on May 21.

Mtaa Wangu has learnt that Mr Wambugu was among the eight administrators of the group but he was the one coordinating most of the things including the briefings.

He briefed the members on the purpose of the group and requested them to support him in the period of grief and the burden of giving his deceased wife a befitting send off.

He further went ahead to place the budget for the entire ceremony at Sh 500,000 in which the contributions were to be sent on his cell phone number.

Wambugu also updated the members of the post mortem report that was conducted on the body of Ms Waithera indicating that his wife had been poisoned.

“Update of my wife. Post mortem imefanywa na doc amesema alipuliziwa dawa,” he stated.

He received condolences messages from the members who sympathized with his tragic situation.

This was however before the news of his arrest and arraignment in connection with the murder broke out.

The information from the various news platforms were quickly shared on the Whatsapp group creating confusion, with members asking questions majority of which went unanswered.

By the time of his arrest on June 2, at least 10 members had contributed a total of Sh 53,000.

But after the news broke, the contributions stalled and the discussion around Wambugu’s role in his wife’s murder heated up.

The members expressed their shock over the news while others found it difficult to comprehend what was happening.

One member by the name Nderitu said he had suspected foul play in the murder and celebrated the new development.

“Let me give God a very big applause because I prayed that our daughter, sister, cousin and the future of this nation will not be put to rest before her killers were arrested. Thanks, Jehovah you are not like humans,” he stated.

As the chaos ensued, an update was sent to the group confirming that Waithera was being laid to rest on Thursday June 5.

It is not yet clear what will happen to the funds that had already been remitted to Zachary’s phone number.

Zachary was arrested on June 2 by the police whose preliminary investigations linked him to the murder.

Nakuru Principal Magistrate Vincent Adet on Thursday allowed the application by the police to continue detaining him in their custody for 14 days pending conclusion of investigations.

“The court is satisfied that the applicant has demonstrated compelling reasons to justify continued further custodial detention pending trial. The court directs that the suspect be held at the Nakuru police station for a period not exceeding 14 days,” ruled Mr Adet.

The case will be mentioned on June 17.