7 Daystar Students Released After CCTV Clears Them in Colleague’s Death

Seven university students linked to the demise of Daystar University student Lorna Kathambi Karani were, on Monday, December 1, handed some reprieve after new evidence cleared them in the death of their colleague.

The group were being held as suspects in the tragedy but were ultimately saved by recent CCTV footage, which showed the late university student had fallen while attempting to jump between balconies.

The incident occurred on the night of November 23 when Lorna and several of her friends gathered at an apartment in the Ngara area. Authorities have since established that the group were holding a small party where they were singing and reportedly consuming alcohol.

At around 2:27am, security logs showed the group entering a 12th-floor unit, and by 4:10am, four members temporarily left the building and later returned with another occupant.

Shortly afterwards, there was a loud noise, and a security guard later discovered Lorna's body on the ground floor with visible head injuries.

In the aftermath, seven students, four boys and three girls, were arrested and detained after items believed to belong to the deceased were found in the apartments.

Police initially sought to detain the students for 10 days to collect forensic evidence, interview witnesses and retrieve CCTV footage. The court instead granted a seven-day extension as investigations persisted.

During court proceedings, the seven students were questioned about the role of alcohol in the night's events, with Magistrate Dolphina Alego famously urging them to reflect on how drinking and partying had potentially deadly ramifications.

New CCTV footage, which emerged on December 1, appeared to confirm that Lorna's fall was accidental rather than a deliberate action by the students.

Prosecution subsequently recommended a public inquest into her death rather than pursuing criminal charges against the students, and the court accepted the recommendation. The students were thus cleared of suspicion.

The students, going forward, have their role shifted from suspects to participants in uncovering the full circumstances surrounding the death of Lorna, which has left her family in shock.

In a separate incident, CCTV footage which emerged on Sunday also unravelled the final moments ofStandard Group Media journalist Amos HarunMaina before he collapsed and died at a bar in Mirema, Nairobi, on November 16, this year.

In the footage obtained byKTN, Maina was seen drinking with a group of bar attendants before he suddenly collapsed and died on the spot while still seated.