ALWAYS HAPPY" Sophia Njoroge and her son Jerry Shamgar were very good friends with the two dead children and their mother. "They were like my little brothers. They were always happy and the little one always wanted to be out playing, "said Jerry Shamgar. "I still have not accepted that they will never come back," says Sophia.
The electricity was turned off and the stack of pizza boxes grew when the mother lost her job. But according to her friend Sophia Njoroge, the local social services denied the woman and children welfare support:
– I tried to help them, I was like a grandmother to the boys. But the social just wondered why I called.
Sophia Njoroge shall never again see the eight-year-old boy and his four-year younger brother. Those that she used to babysit, and whose clothes and toys she still has left in her apartment. Also, a cuddly toy, a pair of sunglasses model and other kids clothes.
– I still have not understood that the kids shall never come here, said Sophia when Aftonbladet visited her home in western Stockholm.
“She Did all She Could for Them”
Sophia and her 19-year-old son Jerry were the closest family to the woman family in Sigtuna, and they are now trying to come to terms with what has happened too the well-behaved, responsible mother of two suspected of murdering her sons who were her everything. – Everything she did, she did for them.
In early summer, the murder suspect 30-year-old woman suddenly travelled home to Kenya to support her sister.
– She called me and told me I had to take care of the children when she was gone. I was like a mother to her and as a grandmother to the boys, says Sophia. The just over a month long trip led to the woman to lose her job because she left without being granted leave.
Did Not Open The Door
– In early August, she turned to the welfare office to get income support. But according to Sophia, the application was rejected. – I called the welfare office to find out what happened, but they just asked who I was and why I called.
The mother of two told Sophia that she would start a new cleaning job, but it never happened. – Her situation worsened and she completely broke down and gave up. She also stopped answering the phone and when worried friends went home and knocked on her door, it was not opened.
When the summer vacation was over, the woman shut herself inside and never left the apartment with her children – who really should have started school and kindergarten.
When Sophia came home to the family in Sigtuna on Monday – hours before the children were found dead in the water and the woman arrested – she was shocked. The apartment was a mess and the electricity had been turned off.
– There would not even be two dirty mugs on the sink area before, not a stain, but there was instead dirt everywhere.
Forensic Examination
The apartment was full of dishes, trash, and unopened mail. Sophia counted forty pizza boxes.
– She came on Thursday evening and bought six pizzas. We thought it was a bit strange but she said that they were renovating in her apartment and she could not cook, said an employee at the pizzeria.
Yesterday police carried out a forensic examination of the apartment. The mother remains highly suspected of murder, but denies the crime.
The forensic examination will now determine how the boys died. Investigators have received several indications that the children were victims of crime and have a theory about how it happened.
– But we must wait for the autopsy. It may be possible that this was an accident, says Stefan Marcopolous, the police spokesman for the north of Stockholm station.
Sophia tells how she, on Monday searched all over Sigtuna for the boys.
– I thought the kids might have escaped at night and gone to school the next day, she says. But they were nowhere.
“Something Has Happened”
Sophia has long fought for the woman. She tried to help her find a new job, be in touch with the social services – all for the boys’ sake.
– Why did she not come to me as say that had a hard time? I would have been able to help her, I did always. – Something has happened to her. I think she felt she could no longer take care of their children, and she shut herself in with them in the apartment, as in a cocoon.
Sophia is disappointed that the society failed to move in and help the mother and her sons.
– This must never happen to another family. That’s why I have to narrate about this situation.
Sigtuna’s Social Services boss Jan Hellström, would not comment on the mother’s case.
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