Autopsy shows Matete’s husband John Apewajoye had severe burns

By Cyrus Ombati | 4yrs ago | 2 min read

**Matete and her late husband John Apewajoye.**

Gospel musician Ruth Matete’s husband had severe body burns that caused his death, a post-mortem examination has shown.

Pathologists’ report shows that John Apewajoye, a Nigerian pastor, had 60 per cent burns that triggered a condition called sepsis leading to multiple organ failure.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to an infection. The body normally releases chemicals into the bloodstream to fight infection. Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to these chemicals is out of balance, triggering changes that can damage multiple organ systems.

Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor said the burns made it impossible for him to recover. There were no other injuries detected on the body, he added.

Detectives handling the case will now determine how to progress with the probe. Already, Ms Matete has been questioned twice over her husband’s death.

The detectives also went to Ms Matete’s residential home in Athi River, Machakos County, to collect more evidence to help them establish events that preceded Apewajoye’s death.

The probe is being handled by detectives from the homicide unit. They took over from their Athi River colleagues. The team reconstructed the scene of the incident as told by Matete.

She was asked to narrate events that led to the gas cylinder accident earlier reported as the cause of her husband’s death.

Apewajoye died in hospital after the gas explosion incident in the couple’s house at Great Wall Gardens Estate in Athi River.

Matete said Apewajoye was initially taken to Shallom Hospital and later transferred to Bellevue South Hospital in Nairobi, where he was admitted to the High Dependency Unit before being moved to Kenyatta National Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries there.

Matete, who is two months pregnant and the 2012 Tusker Project Fame star, told police her husband died two weeks after he suffered burn wounds.

Officials from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority are helping police to know if the cylinder was faulty at the time of the incident. They are also working with the company that supplied the cylinder to the couple as part of the investigation.