I Warned Her Against Going to Saudi Arabia But She Run Away, Husband of Deceased Kenyan Woman Says

The estranged husband of a Kenyan woman who died under mysterious circumstances in Saudi Arabia in February has spoken out.

Bernard Njenga says his late wife Esther Wanjiku Thuku revealed plans to fly to Saudi Arabia in January 2019 in search of greener pastures, but he was against the idea.

The two disagreed over the matter, prompting Wanjiku to walk out on him and move back to her parent’s house.

“When I told her that I do not like that idea, we started having small issues, and shortly she ran away and went back to her parent’s home. She carried the kids and went with them. I did not follow up with her immediately,” Njenga told Tuko in an interview.

In June 2019, Wanjiku traveled to the Gulf country to work as a domestic manager and left her children under the care of her mother and never informed her husband. 

"When she left for Saudi Arabia, she was in her mother's hands. I was never told, I learned that she left from my sister when she was at the airport and wanted to talk to our son. Only her mother can explain how she left, who facilitated her flight,'' Njenga said.

Since her arrival in the Middle East country, she was in constant communication with her family and children until January this year when they tried calling her in vain.

Worried by her unusual silence, the family contacted her employer in Saudi Arabia in February and were told that Esther no longer worked for them. She said Esther left in January.

When the family reached out to her Saudi agents, they claimed Esther traveled back to Kenya but when the family insisted she did not return, they asked for more time to look for her.

They later sent the family a voice recording confirming that Esther was still in Saudi Arabia but they did not know where she was working.

On May 18th, the family posted about her disappearance on social media platforms for people working in Saudi Arabia.

The following day, they received a call from Saudi’s Ministry of Home Affairs informing them that Esther died on February 28th, 2021. 

They were asked to send an email bearing the names of those who will pick her body at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). 

The family is waiting for her body to arrive in the country for burial.