Tuesday, May 24, 2011

QUESTIONS THE POLICE MUST ANSWER ON THE WANJIRU DEATH

By Miguna Miguna

BESIDES the speculations, the alleged lurid love triangles, the ghost “fathers” emerging from darkness after the occurrence of a tragedy, and the apparent disputes between Samuel Kamau Wanjiru’s mother and his “wife”, Teresia Njeri, there are numerous and crucial questions the Kenya Police must answer before we allow them to continue peddling the dubious “suicide” story.

Based on media reports, Wanjiru died at his home in Muthaiga Estate in Nyahururu on Sunday May 15th shortly before midnight. It is further claimed that when he “plunged to death,” there was a watchman at the gate and a barmaid named Jane Nduta.

According to the bizarre story both the media and the police are peddling, Wanjiku “jumped” or “plunged” to his death as he was “chasing” Njeri, who had fled with his house keys after locking him and Nduta in the house. Wanjiru was chasing Njeri through a bedroom door Njeri had locked from outside?

That is bizarre beyond belief. Try imagining that a bit. Wanjiru “sneaks” a barmaid into his house with the watchman only seeing Wanjiru. Although “very drunk” (according to the barmaid, “too drunk to defend himself”), he still managed to drive to his home. What was he supposed to defend himself from? Wanjiru’s coach has said that he (Wanjiru) drove himself in the vehicle he had earlier borrowed from the coach in Eldoret. This is an Olympic champion who is said to own more than five expensive vehicles! Was he traveling incognito? Why?

Apparently, the watchman opens the house door for Wanjiru (we are not sure with which pair of keys). No mention of Nduta, yet. On his way back to the gate, the watchman meets “a woman entering the compound through the pedestrian walkway” and a Toyota Land Cruiser coming through the main gate.

The mysterious woman is not identified. No information is given about the driver or owner of the Land Cruiser. Were there passengers in the Land Cruiser? And who opened the “pedestrian walk-way” for the unidentified woman? Who opened the main gate for the Land Cruiser? Did the unidentified woman and those in the Land Cruiser enter the house? How?

Both the police and media report that Njeri arrived at Wanjiru’s home after 11.30 p.m. She is reported in the media claiming that she had traveled from Nairobi that day. By what means? Any proof? But the watchman hasn’t been reported spotting her arrival earlier that day. Strangely, she hadn’t done groceries, nor taken out food from the many joints on the way to Nyahururu. Later - so she claims - she left Wanjiru’s house that evening at a time yet to be disclosed and went to “have supper” at an unnamed “friend’s house” in the “Muthaiga neighbourhood.”

Are there records of telephone calls between the recently reconciled couple; or between them and others? Despite the tragic death of a very high profile Kenyan, Njeri hasn’t disclosed the identity of the “friends” that hosted her that night. Why the mystery?

Njeri is reported to have made her way into the house sometime after 11:30 p.m. She used “her” spare keys. She then takes medication and proceeds upstairs where she confronts Wanjiru, who is “in bed with another woman.” A “fight” ensues. No injuries (remember Wanjiru is too drank to defend himself?) Shortly, Njeri storms out, running. But not before she “remembers” to lock Wanjiru and his “lover” in the bedroom, upstairs.

Unable to open the door and “pursue her,” Wanjiru decides to “plunge,” head first, onto the concrete below. This is the most incredible story I have heard since the O.J. Simpson murder saga. Yet, the police and the media have bought Njeri’s version, hook, line and sinker. Why?

If Wanjiru plunged as described, how come the injury is to the back of his head and not his forehead? Did he somersault? When people jump from first floor balconies, do they fall on their hands and knees or on the back of their heads? Was he pushed? Could he have been killed there or elsewhere before being dropped from the balcony?

How could Njeri, as she was “running away”, have failed to see or hear the loud thud that inevitably would accompany such a fall? How about Nduta? How could she have heard and seen nothing? How could she remain seated on the bed with all the commotion around her? Did she try to call for help? Why not? And given the fact that Wanjiru had accessed the house using a different pair of keys from Njeri’s; why couldn’t he use the same keys to open the door Njeri had locked? So far, nobody has claimed that Njeri had confiscated Wanjiru’s keys.

It has also been reported that Njeri was speaking with some senior police officer on her mobile phone as soon as she exited the house. What were they talking about? Why didn’t she report the “fall,” which clearly occurred before she allegedly “left” the compound? Why is it reported that she didn’t know that Wanjiru had fallen and died until the police told her the same at the Nyahururu Police Station. And just out of curiosity; how far is that police station from Wanjiru’s house? How long would it have taken Njeri to run/walk there?

Finally, Wanjiru’s mother has made allegations that her son was killed before being thrown from the balcony of his house. She also claims that she saw blood in her son’s bedroom when she arrived at the scene but that Njeri washed it away afterwards. Are those claims true? Have they been investigated? How come the police have not been able to retrieve any images from the CCTV cameras? Were the cameras tampered with? What did the neighbours hear?


The police made no attempts to secure the scene. They have unreasonably insisted that Wanjiru either committed suicide or jumped to his death even before an autopsy has been done.
Kenyans deserve to know more.

The writer is the PM’s adviser for coalition affairs. The views expressed here are his own.

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