A brother of a woman who was allegedly beaten to death by her husband has said he had been reluctant to accept her new partner.
Mark Ouma said that in 2017, before his sister Beryl Ouma’s wedding, he called her aside and informed her that he felt the family had not had a chance to know Laiko Osuri well enough.
“We just heard news that they were together and were planning to get married. I had never hang out with him to be able to discern the kind of person Laiko was, but I never dug deeper,” Mark said.
He pledged his support and agreed to attend the wedding, but made it clear he was not comfortable with the situation.
Elegant wedding
Beryl and Laiko got married on October 15, 2017, at the Kenyatta University Seventh Day Adventist Church in a blue and red-themed ceremony described as elegant and fashionably upper class.
“It was a wow wedding, in fact more than wow. Everybody was happy and appeared to be having so much fun,” said George Ouma, another of Beryl’s brothers. At the time, Laiko was working in Doha, Qatar.
Matters changed when Laiko, who has since been arrested, moved back to the country last year and domestic squabbles intensified.
Beryl died last Thursday after one such fight. Her body was received at Uhai Neema Hospital in Kahawa Sukari early on Thursday last week. There were no records of who took it there. Mark reported that the doctor said Beryl was already dead when she arrived at the hospital.
That Thursday, the family intercepted the police, who were allegedly attempting to transfer the body to another mortuary without their knowledge.
Neighbours reported that there were screams from the house from 2am which went on until around 5am.
Police have blamed the neighbours for not intervening when they heard the screams.
“The screams were so loud and so painful. She cried that she was being beaten. We came out but we could not do anything, so we just stood there, and one person said that a husband and his wife were fighting,” said Charles Ochieng, a neighbour.
John Mungai, another neighbour, said that at one time they attempted to break into the house but Beryl came to the window and told them that everything was okay.
“At that point, everybody decided to go back to their houses. The screams persisted but after some time, it was silent,” Mr Mungai said.
Beryl’s father, Douglas Nyakach said she sent two flashback messages before 5am, which he did not see nor hear as he was asleep.
However, he heard the beeping of a third message and he decided to check.
“I talked to Laiko on the phone and he told me that he and Beryl had had a small disagreement, but in the background I could hear my daughter crying,” Mr Nyakach said.
More questions
He later received a call from the suspect’s parents on Thursday morning, saying Beryl was unwell and had been taken to hospital.
“Laiko’s father told me that they had been to their house at 2am and that the children had had a disagreement. Why didn’t they call me earlier?” Nyakach asked.
A postmortem that was supposed to be conducted on Saturday at Chiromo Mortuary will be conducted today.
Beryl’s family claimed that they were ready with their pathologist, but had received a call from the investigating officer from Kahawa Sukari Police Station that Laiko’s side needed to be present.
“We have yet to see the representatives from the other side,” Nyakach said.
