Mystery surrounding the death of a former assistant chief in Embu and the disappearance of his heart during autopsy remain after a judicial inquest on the cause of his death failed to establish claims of murder.
Principal Magistrate Evans Mbicha has recommended to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution that persons adversely mentioned and linked to the death of Benedict Karau be interrogated and the evidence re-evaluated.
After listening to 15 witnesses in the judicial inquest, Magistrate Mbicha ruled that “there appears to have been foul play on the death” of Karau as there were complex patterns pointing to “culpability of his third wife Martha Gakou and her cronies”.
Among the anomalies noted by court was how Karau ended up in hospital dressed in pyjamas, while at the time of being chocked by food he was in a suit.
Another anomaly is how he sustained bruises and injuries on his hands and head, and a finding by private pathologist, Dr Moses Gachoki Njue, that Karau had died from a heart attack, ruling out the head injuries.
The chief died while being taken to hospital, the inquest found as it questioned why the body was “urgently embalmed before the post-mortem; this adds further to the courts misgivings”.
Karau, a polygamous man, died on March 2, 2015 and his third wife Martha Gakou alleged that he was chocked by food while having dinner at home.
First postmortem
Some family members raised doubts on Ms Gakou’s claim since Karau had injuries on the upper part of the face.
Blood was also oozing from the nose and mouth. There had been reports of a serious commotion at home on the night he died, court papers indicate.
When his body was subjected to a second autopsy at Meru Level Five Hospital, pathologists found that he had no heart and kidney.
The organs had been harvested and stolen during the first postmortem on March 11, 2015 at Consolata Mission Hospital, Nkubu.
The second autopsy was conducted on August 18, 2015 after exhuming the body as some family members were unconvinced by initial findings that the man died of a heart attack. They sought to establish the cause of injuries in the body.
Dr Njue, former chief government pathologist, who conducted the first autopsy, became a suspect in the theft of vital body organs, but denied the allegations.
Dr Njue stated he had taken the heart to undertake a histology and the same could be either in Nkubu or in his private clinic in Nyeri and would produce the same in two weeks’ time. He never returned the organs.
Judicial inquest
A judicial inquest commenced at a magistrate court with a view to establish the cause of death has failed to make a finding on whether Karau was murdered or actually chocked on food as alleged by his third wife Martha Gakou. He was 74 years old at the time of death.
Magistrate Mbicha in his ruling recommended that DPP gets the statement of a missing witness, Phineus Mwirigi, who was living in the same house with Karau and Gakou, and who, it was testified, was present as a primary witness of the death.
“I opine and recommend that the ODPP Prosecution keeps its file open, rethink and re-evaluate the evidence herein and ensure, using the available legal mechanism that the statement of Phineus Mwirigi is properly and truly captured and the material persons mentioned herein are interrogated further,” said the magistrate.
The court noted that Karau’s family, being a polygamous, had fractures, divisions and trauma.
“There is also some dispute as to who are and who are not the biological children of the deceased; the court will not go to this arena,” said the magistrate.
He said there were anomalies and other activities surrounding Karau’s death, which cannot be wished away.
“The original clothes, the suit, appears not to have been traced, this is both suspect and wanting. An attempt by the witnesses present to state that the doctor removed Karau’s clothes when he reached the hospital is still unsatisfactory and suspect,” said the magistrate.
Also, there was a change of motor vehicles used to ferry Karau to hospitals after the initial car reportedly ran out of fuel.
Emergency treatment
“The court, having observed the demeanor and conduct of the witness who testified on this issue, finds that the foregoing appears suspicious and wanting and there was some information being hidden,” said Mr Mbicha.
Karau lived in Mikinduri. From the evidence adduced, it appeared Mikinduri Sub-county Hospital was nearer than Meru Level Five.
The magistrate questioned why he was driven all the way to Meru yet he needed emergency treatment.
Further, it was not clear how mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was done on Karau when there was evidence that he was bleeding from the nose and mouth.
Dr Johansen Oduor, chief government pathologist, noted that Karau had injuries in the right upper arm posterior aspect and bruises on the scalp of the face; – some of the injuries appeared to be defensive wounds.
“The explanation given by the third family’s witnesses that the injuries were sustained when Karau was being taken to hospital in the moving motor vehicles is not plausible as Karau in all the occasions as was testified when being moved to hospital was between two people on both sides of the motor vehicle supporting him,” said the magistrate.
