Esther Olindo, 28, a hairdresser, was stabbed 11 times by an unknown assailants in her house in Baharini trading centre on the Eldoret-Webuye road in a chilling incident that shocked residents and sparked uproar among human rights activists from Uasin Gishu and Kakamega counties.
The body of the hearing-impaired hairdresser was on May 22 found lying in a pool of blood in her house by residents who became curious after the deceased unusually delayed to open her salon.
Esther’s mother Alice Olindo said her daughter had defied her hearing disability to secure self-employment to support her family.
She said her family is still in agony and is yet to come to terms with the gruesome killing of their daughter.
“We are still asking many questions without answers because the perpetrators are yet to be arrested 10 days since her killing. I wish we had known the killers and their motive,” a visibly distraught Mrs Olindo told The Standard outside the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary where family and friends had gone to pick the body for burial.
According to Kenyan police officers investigating the homicide, the assailants did not steal anything from the disabled woman.
She said the late Esther was emulated by young women in her Kimoson Village in Malava, Kakamega County adding that she attended a regular primary school despite her disability and sat her KCPE before joining a vocational training school where she got her hairdressing skills.
“The attacker would have stolen everything and spare my daughter’s life,” said Mrs Olindo.
Esther’s father Mr Samson Olindo said: “I worked so hard to ensure that she (Esther) gets education like my other children. I am shocked that we lost her in such a brutal manner. I leave everything to God.”
Mr Olindo told investigative agencies to expedite investigations into the killing and bring the perpetrators to book.
He said the deceased used earnings from her salon to educate one of her younger siblings and never used her hearing-impairment to seek financial support from family members led by the auspices of the United Disabled Persons of Kenya said it were alarmed with the rising cases of murder, sexual harassment and physical assaults of women with disabilities in the country.
Beyond Kakamega County Women and Girls with Disabilities director Catherine Shiundu said cases of disabled women being attacked in Uasin Gishu and neighbouring Kakamega have gone unreported.
“The brutality of all these acts of violence are not only heartbreaking, but build within our hearts, a painful anger that cannot be expressed,” said Ms Shiundu.
Ms Shiundu asked the police to ensure the suspects are arrested and arraigned in court as soon as possible.
She asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute any person suspected of having participated in Esther’s killing.
Uasing Gishu Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs) patron Barnaba Chemase claimed that another disabled person was murdered in Eldoret two weeks ago.
“We are perturbed by the rising cases and we urge the state to issue licenced firearms to PWDs if it has failed in securing them,” he said.
Eldoret West Sub-County Police Commander Zachary Bitok said police officers are investigating the killing.
Samson Olindo and his wife Alice with a portrait of their late daughter Esther Olindo outside MTRH in Eldoret today. Ms Olindo was killed 10 days ago in Baharini trading centre on the Eldoret-Webuye road.