Even with contradictions surrounding her whereabouts, Violet Kemunto's name has shocked Kenyans when it was established that she was among the deadly terrorists who planned the DusitD2 terror attack on Tuesday.
Initial police report indicated that she had been arrested from her boyfriend's house in Ruaka but some contradicting information indicate that she may have disappeared to Somalia hours after the attack.
According to the Nation, Mrs Kemunto, who is believed to have married Ali Salim Gichunge, another terrorist believed to have masterminded the attack, was a student at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology where she majored in Journalism and PR.
Classmates who were interviewed potrayed her as a queit friendly girl who always wore her Hijab to classes until her graduation in 2015 December. Despite being in attires associated with Islam, many thought she was Christian given her name.
"She was quiet most of the time and friendly to everyone she interacted with. She spoke only when taking part in class or group discussions and didn’t take alcohol or smoke cigarettes.”
At MMUST, competition for hostels had fuelled a construction craze as locals cashed in on the growing student population.Kemunto, friends say, rented a hostel outside the university for most of her study period.
She was popularly known as Hadija, which she shortened to “Didge”, to her classmates.She had three close friends, and the four of them were so tight that classmates referred to them as the Gang of Four.
“They were so close and planned to wed, but somehow things did not work out,” a friend said.
From there, she got a job at a phone shop in Nairobi. Then things moved so fast from there on and, before long, she had another boyfriend.
After that, she disappeared from the social scene. Friends didn’t hear from her again until she organised a wedding last year.Neighbours at the Guango Estate home in Kiambu she shared with Gichunge described her as a quiet woman who liked to smile, but seldom spoke.
Already, police have arrested Mrs Salma Gichunge, her boyfriend's mother, and she's being held in Nairobi for questioning. The attack left at least 21 people dead with several others injured.
On Facebook, in an account associated with Mrs Kemunto, she last marketed household items, indicating that the couple was moving away from Ruaka. They reportedly gave the landlord a notice on January 6th, 2018.