NAIROBI, Kenya- A pastor has told the High Court in Kibera that a phone belonging to murdered Multimedia University student Sylvia Kemunto Ayaye was found among church offerings during the counting of collections.
Pastor Hannah Faith Mukami, who is also an administrator at Jesus Is Alive Ministries, testified that the Oppo phone was discovered on April 2, 2025, three days after the date prosecutors say Ayaye was murdered.
Mukami said the church kept the phone until police officers came looking for it.
“We kept the phone in safe custody until police officers came looking for it,” she told the court.
She said officers informed church staff that call data placed Ayaye’s phone within the church compound.
During cross-examination, Mukami confirmed that the phone presented in court was the one recovered from the offerings.
The testimony was heard during the murder trial of Erick Mutinda Philip, who is charged with killing Ayaye on March 30, 2025, at Multimedia University of Kenya, along Magadi Road in Lang’ata, Nairobi.
Mutinda has denied the charge.
University guard recounts search for missing student
Silas Ochieng Elphine Otieno, who was in charge of the university’s security department, told the court how staff responded after receiving a report that Ayaye was missing.
Otieno said a search team looked for the student before checking a water reservoir tank on the rooftop of a university hostel.
The team found a decomposing body inside the tank on April 2, 2025.
Police were alerted and took over the scene, where the body was identified as Ayaye’s.
Classmate describes relationship with accused
Fellow student Neununa Mounira Namatsi told the court that she was Ayaye’s close friend and classmate. S
he recounted trying to reach her after she went missing and described the relationship between Ayaye and Mutinda as toxic, saying that he mistreated her.
Namatsi said Ayaye had considered moving to a hostel outside the university to avoid frequent encounters with Mutinda.
She told the court that Ayaye’s mother advised her to remain at the university for the rest of her studies.
Derrick Higai Luther, who shared a hostel room with Mutinda, testified about their accommodation arrangements and interactions with university security staff during the period under investigation.
Meghan Nasserian Kihara, who had previously shared a room with Ayaye, also gave evidence about her knowledge of the student and what she learned after the body was found.
The witnesses’ accounts form part of the evidence being heard in the ongoing trial.
