Man in Tuju divorce saga found dead
Tony Ogunda in court May 6, 2013 where he was denied sending an offensive message to former minister Raphael Tuju. Mr Ogunda was found dead in Nairobi July 2, 2013. FILE
What you need to know:
- Mr Opondo said that when he woke up around 6.20am, Ogunda appeared to be in a deep sleep. However, at around 7am, he decided to wake him up, but Mr Ogunda did not respond.
- Mr Ogunda had been named in a divorce petition filed by Mr Tuju, who is seeking to end his 27-year marriage to Ms Akinyi, with whom the former presidential aspirant has three children.
The lover of former Cabinet minister Raphael Tuju’s wife was Tuesday found dead at a friend’s house in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area.
Mr Tony Ogunda, a former General Service Unit (GSU) police officer, was found dead in the house on Matumbato Road, where he had been staying with the friend, Mr Cosmas Okoth Opondo, for about two weeks.
“Investigations have begun with the aim of establishing if a crime was committed. However, for now we are treating it as sudden death,” Nairobi police county commander Benson Kibui said.
Exhibits including a bottle of liquor and a syringe were collected from the house.
Mr Tuju’s estranged wife, Ruth Akinyi, expressed shock at the news of Mr Ogunda’s death. “It is strange to me since I did not even know where he was,” she said in a telephone interview.
Mr Opondo said the two had gone for drinks at Relax Bar on Duruma Road at around 11pm on Monday and remained there until around 1.39am when they returned home. Mr Ogunda slept on a couch.
Mr Opondo said that when he woke up around 6.20am, Ogunda appeared to be in a deep sleep. However, at around 7am, he decided to wake him up, but Mr Ogunda did not respond.
He then reported the matter at the Capitol Hill police post and officers from the station went to his home to conduct preliminary investigations.
Police found a bottle of liquor and a syringe next to the body.
When the Nation team visited the City Mortuary at around noon, the body was still fully dressed but without shoes. There were no visible injuries.
Mr Ogunda had been named in a divorce petition filed by Mr Tuju, who is seeking to end his 27-year marriage to Ms Akinyi, with whom the former presidential aspirant has three children.
Mr Ogunda also had a pending criminal case at the Milimani Law Courts where he had been charged with sending offensive messages to Mr Tuju.
In May, he was charged at the Kibera Law Courts with trespassing into Mr Tuju’s compound. He was out on bond awaiting trial in both cases.
Mr Tuju, while speaking to the Nation on phone from Johannesburg, South Africa, said he had learnt of the death but since he was out of the country, he did not have the details.
“(He) had on several occasions intentionally provoked me, but the last thing I would have wished him was death,” the former Rarieda MP said.
