Fr John Maina Ndegwa was the priest in the Diocese of Nyandarua, in central Kenya, where his parish recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary and received financial donations to mark the occasion. He had been trailed, abducted and dumped along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway before his hospitalisation.
When he was found at Kikopey, near Gilgil town, Ndegwa had minor injuries on one side of his head. He was rushed by motorcycle to the town’s St Joseph’s Mission Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment on 15 May.
Over the week before the priest was buried on 22 May, in Ol’Joro Oroko in Nyandarua, speculation mounted amid conflicting accounts of his death. Although church authorities did not issue any public comment on how or why Ndegwa died, the Daily Nation reported that he had whispered to medics at the hospital that he had been poisoned.
Police investigators said they suspected the priest sustained the injuries elsewhere and his body was dumped at the site, 50km from his parish
Two weeks earlier, Ndegwa had hosted Rigathi Gachagua, a controversial former deputy president whom parliamentarians impeached last year. Gachagua was the chief guest at the anniversary celebrations at Ndegwa’s Church of St Louis in Igwamiti.
Gachagua mourned Ndegwa, describing him as a shepherd of his flock and a friend with whom he had met several times and discussed matters of national interest.
Investigators said they had established the priest was being pursued with demands for part of the money Gachagua gave the parish at the anniversary celebrations. He claimed his life was in danger, but had not reported to the police.
Allegedly, Gachagua had given the parish KES 400,000 (£2,300), but the assailants believed the priest had received ten times that amount and wanted half the sum. The investigators said Ndegwa was also under pressure to repay KES 2 million withdrawn from the parish account without co-signatories, reportedly to buy a car.