On June 25, at around 2 am, Sarah Njogu’s mother was called to St. Francis Hospital, Kasarani, where her daughter was admitted after sustaining a dangerous fall.
Mary Wanjiru immediately got up from bed and realised that the door had been locked – and her daughter Sarah had gone with the padlock keys.
Quickly, and frantically, Wanjiru squeezed herself through a tight spare window overlooking her daughter’s front balcony, screaming and shouting, waking up the entire apartment with her cries of terror.
Wanjiru managed to fit through the tight window, falling right across the corridor and dashing off to St. Francis Hospital where her daughter laid in a bad state.
Sarah Njogu, popularly known as Sarah Gwan, had fallen from the second floor balcony of an adjacent building in Seasons, Kasarani, after what appeared to have been indoors drama with her three friends – two women and one man.
Upon arrival at St. Francis, Wanjiru was met with a ghastly look of her daughter sprawled on the bed, with blood oozing from her ears. She had a cut on her head, too.
At that point, in the Emergency Room, Sarah was plugged into life-saving machines – but a decision was quickly made and Sarah had to be transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital.
Her father was preparing himself to leave for Nairobi from Karatina, after receiving a call at around 3am in the morning.
“I was asleep. I quickly got up and started preparing myself to go to Nairobi. I arrived at Nairobi at around 7am and went straight to Kasarani Police Station where I notified the police that my daughter had just fallen from a balcony and the family suspected that her friends were behind it all, ” Geoffrey Njogu says.
At Kasarani, the police advised Njogu to go to see his daughter, telling him that he could not record a statement before seeing his daughter’s state first.
Upon arrival at St. Francis, Njogu says he dashed back to the Kasarani police station to report the matter, seeking to have Sarah’s friends arrested immediately.
“At Kasarani, I was provided with two police officers who accompanied me to St. Francis Hospital where the three friends were arrested and booked at the station,” he says.
At the same time, the family was running around desperately trying to transfer their daughter from St. Francis to Kenyatta National Hospital.
“We had to transfer her to Kenyatta because we had been asked for a Ksh.150,000 deposit at St. Francis and we did not have that money at that time,” Njogu says.
Sarah’s father went on to explain that, after her friends were initially arrested on Tuesday, they were released two days later on a Ksh. 60,000 cash bail each, with the police explaining that it was unreasonable to keep holding them beyond that point.
“Since they were released, they’ve not attempted to reach out to us, to condole with us, to visit the family or even call us. In fact, they had sent someone with suggestions that we needed to meet and settle the case out of court. A proposal we declined,” Wanjiru says.
Four days after bravely fighting for her life, Sarah Gwan breathed her last at the Kenyatta Hospital, Saturday morning.
The family has flatly disputed the friends’ report which appeared to indicate that the renowned video vixen intentionally threw herself to her death.
“I know my daughter. She was the strongest woman in my household. Sarah began her independence quite early in life, as a very young girl. She was very strong at heart and a go-getter. There is no way Sarah would kill herself. That’s not the Sarah I knew,” her mother said.
Backing up her mother was Purity Njogu, Sarah’s sister, who also said that Sarah’s mental state had always been upright and that her sister had never displayed any intentions to end her own life, despite any adversity.
“My sister was the strongest woman I knew. Sarah was not suicidal. She has been through hell and back and wasn’t the type to end her own life and leave her daughter behind,” she said.
“What concerns me most, actually, is that, we are told that one of Sarah’s friends encouraged her to throw herself off the balcony. What kind of friend would encourage you to throw yourself off a balcony?”
Sarah Gwan, one of Kenya’s most decorated video vixens, had appeared in multiple high-profile music videos. She had featured in songs by Redsan, Willy Paul, Bensoul, Ommy Dimpoz, Reckless and more.
Her female friends have only been identified with their first names, Angie and Vanessa. The third friend in the house by the time of Sarah’s fall, a man, has not yet been identified.
The post-mortem is currently underway at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Officers from the homicide department are present.
