Kate Mitchell Murder: On Friday November 19, a Nairobi man who was identified as Tamati Mauti booked a room at a hotel in Nairobi’s Westlands area. He had planned to spend the night with his girlfriend who was identified as Akinyi. The two were engaged and were due to get married in December 2021.
A few moments after they checked into their seventh floor room at the Ibis Styles Hotel in Westlands, Nairobi, Mauti excused himself and went out to the hotel’s bar. He met with Kate Mitchell, a woman who was working with the British Broadcasting Corporation. Mitchell had booked a room a floor above Mauti and his girlfriend. According to the police, Mitchell and Mauti had taken drinks at the hotel’s bar before Mitchell retreated to her room. Shortly after, Mauti followed her.
The police say that an altercation had occurred once Mauti got to her room. It deteriorated, and at one point, Mitchell is reported to have pressed the alarm bell in a call for help. However, Mauti pinned her down and murdered her before the hotel’s security got to her room. All this while, Mauti’s girlfriend lay in wait a room above them.
Security staff who answered the distress call found Mitchell’s door locked from inside. Reports say that the hotel’s security found Mitchell lying down in the bathroom. St John Ambulance paramedics were called to the scene. Upon arrival, they confirmed that Mitchell was dead, and highlighted a stab wound on the left side of her neck and bruises around her eyes. The hotel management then called the police who processed the scene and took Mitchell and Mauti’s bodies to the morgue.
The police noticed some broken window chippings on the floor. “Upon checking through the window, they saw a man’s body lying on the ground. He was later identified as Mauti, the man Mitchell had been seen with earlier,” said Nairobi Regional Police Commander Benjamin Nthumbi.
“We suspect that this is when the two engaged in a scuffle that resulted in the death of Mitchell, who after realizing things were getting out of control, pressed the room’s alarm. This must have spooked Mauti, who, forgetting they were on the eighth floor, jumped out of the window and died,” Kilimani Sub County Police Commander Muturi Mbogo told local media.
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All through these episodes, Mauti’s girlfriend who was identified as Akinyi was in the seventh floor where she had worriedly waited for Mauti the entire night. The police say that she was beyond shock when she was taken to Kilimani Police Station to record a statement. She also positively identified Mauti’s body as her fiance.