Keroche heiress lover still behind bars as autopsy results cause rift

A post-mortem conducted on the body of the late Tecra Muigai was inconclusive as representatives from her family and those of her boyfriend failed to agree on a final report.

The initial examination, which was conducted at the Lee Funeral Home on Tuesday agreed that the cause of death was trauma to the left side of her face, most probably as a result of a fall. The trauma resulted in a cut, a concussion and internal bleeding.

The two teams that included lawyer James Orengo and businessman Peter Kuguru for the family and a lawyer for Omar Lali Omar (above) - Tecra’s boyfriend - however, did not agree on how the fall came to be.

Tecra’s family representatives insisted that she was pushed, while the lawyer and pathologist representing Omar insisted that the fall was accidental.

Sources privy to the autopsy said there were no other injuries on the body and no defence wounds to point towards a struggle prior to her death. The two teams agreed to meet again to agree on a final report before the deceased is laid to rest in a private ceremony.

While the push and pull went on, Omar spent his 14th night behind bars at Lamu Police Post, counting the trusses holding the roof of his cell.

Nineteen of them represented the number of days since he held the love of his life in a tight embrace. The nails holding the iron sheet to the trusses were too many to count, as are the days in his future without Tecra, the woman who died in his presence, and whom he is currently being accused of killing.

Private life

Tecra’s case has had its sensitivities, not just by projecting Omar into the national limelight but also shining a light to how a public billionaire family would handle the death of a very private daughter who revelled in the simple things in life. Conformity to expected standards wasn’t in her script. Her normal lay in charting her own path and living her life on her own terms, which included a love affair with a 51-year-old descendant of fishermen from Lamu.

The autopsy report once concluded, will now form part of an active case that turned Omar from lover to suspected murderer in 10 days.

“The DCI Lamu offices investigating a case of murder contrary to Section 203 of the Penal Code against the respondent who is suspected to have committed the offence on April 23, 2020, at Jaha Guest House in Shela within Amu Island,” a sworn affidavit by Luke Marwa Olang, attached to DCI Lamu, reads.

Olang paints a picture of how Omar’s 10-month love roller-coaster turned into a murder investigation.

According to the detective, the investigation is wide and complex with witnesses being located in Nairobi and Naivasha whose interview statements were yet to be recorded and thus needed more time to record these statements.

Part of his mandate was to escort blood samples collected from Omar to the government chemist for analysis.

Omar, however, says there were no blood samples collected from him.

“Hawajachukua damu kutoka kwangu,” he told The Standard yesterday.

Ongoing probe

But investigations have been touch-and-go, according to investigators and individuals who’ve found themselves in the crosshairs of the ongoing probe.

On the day of the incident, detectives from Lamu visited Jaha House and interviewed staff and neighbours. At the time they visited, Tecra was still at King Fahd Hospital, thus investigators thought nothing of the preceding events.  Staff at the house that goes for between Sh20,000 -Sh40,000 a night went on with their business, cleaning up and disposing of whatever they thought would not add to the ambience of the house.

A source who visited the house after the investigators that day said: “It was as if they were expecting their guests to return”.

But they never did. Instead, the next visitors to walk through the intricate designs on the Jaha House main door were another team of detectives from the DCI headquarters in Nairobi. There was little in terms of evidence that they could gather. They did, however, leave Jaha House with something.

Fresh oranges. Bottled juice. Canned beans.

Staff say there was no dusting for fingerprints. No sample collection. Questions to staff remained basic. As Omar remains in custody, the night of April 23 seems so long ago, an eternity in which he and Tecra talked about their families. How she thought she was misunderstood. And how he wished the jobs his younger siblings had been given within the Keroche business empire would be the starting point to greater things for both of them. A fresh, unmarked page of life.

This has all changed. Omar’s siblings, already moved from the house they were living into another, are thinking about coming home. Leaving the plains of Naivasha for the sandy beaches of Shela. But even if they return to familiar surroundings, it will never be the same.