A sombre mood engulfed Kuriot village in Uasin Gishu County as Maribel, daughter of Githongo Law courts Senior Resident Magistrate Caroline Kemei was buried yesterday.

Villagers teamed up with friends and mourners from Meru County where the magistrate works in the sendoff of a girl whose life was abruptly cut short by unknown assailants who kidnapped and brutally murdered her.

The teary mother mourned her nine-year-old, whose body was retrieved from Gitoro forest in Meru.

She described her deceased daughter as jovial, bubbly and social to all who interacted with her.

“When my daughter disappeared, I hated everyone. I did not know what to do and when I finally received news that her body had been found in the forest, I was shattered. As painful as it is, I have to release you to be with your maker,” said the mother comforted by her relatives as she gave the tributes.

She added: “The very first time I held you on my bosom, your warmth reverberated through every strand of my hair, whooping through the insole to my toes.

Your smile melted even the hardest emotions. Your laughter infectious and above all you turned out to be a God-fearing girl.”

The mother further said she had left everything to God, noting that authorities should speed up investigations into her untimely death.

Her brother, Brian described her as a jovial angel who helped break boredom.

“I will miss the moments we had together. I thank God for the time we spent together. You are so blessed that you carried out your duty early enough,” said Brian.  Her class four classmates from Consolata Primary School in Meru described her as a true friend with a generous heart.

“We never got a chance to say goodbye. Maribel was always there when you needed her help especially in handwriting. She was our able goalkeeper in football and athletics, she was our champion,” said a class representative.

Maribel is said to have been dropped by a school bus and was walking to home with her friends when a stranger called her by her name, according to witnesses.

The girl rushed to the car, leaving the other children walk home without her and was not seen since then.

It was not until the evening of September 15 when police were called and informed of the body of the girl that had been spotted in a forest in the area.

Officers who arrived at the scene said she had only shoe and that her body had decomposed.