Tuju’s wife quizzed over lover’s death

Former Cabinet minister Raphael Tuju’s estranged wife Ruth Akinyi was Thursday interviewed by detectives as police held her relative in connection with the death of her lover on Tuesday.

Tony Ogunda was found dead by Mr Cosmas Okoth, who is Ms Akinyi’s nephew. Mr Okoth is now in police custody. Kilimani police commander Bernard Muli said detectives are “contemplating” charging him in connection with the death.

“We believe there is much more (information) he is not telling us. The postmortem report revealed there were injuries and he did not mention if the deceased was involved in a scuffle when he gave his statement. Yet, he was with him throughout that day,” he said.

Ogunda, who was mentioned in a divorce case filed by Mr Tuju against his wife, was found dead on a sofa at Mr Okoth’s house in Upper Hill, Nairobi on Tuesday morning.

The two had been living together for two weeks before Ogunda met his death.

Mr Muli added: “We are holding the man because he is failing to disclose very crucial information and he is required to explain.”

On the fateful day, the two arrived home at around 1 am having spent the earlier part of the night at Relax Bar off River Road.

By Thursday, police had interrogated five people and taken their statements.

The Nation learnt that the former minister’s wife told detectives to also question a woman she identified as Sabina, because she was around the home when the incident happened.

Mrs Tuju was summoned to Kilimani police station and was interrogated for close to four hours.

Responding to queries from journalists, she said: “It was fine and the officers were kind enough. It (the interview) went on well.”

Mr Okoth is expected to be taken to court Friday morning.

Police say that though the autopsy report revealed that Ogunda had head injuries, Mr Okoth never indicated anywhere in his statement of any fight or fall.

The head of criminal investigations in Nairobi, Mr Nicholas Kamwende, said that Mr Okoth had recorded a statement immediately he reported the death at Capitol Hill police station.

He was summoned for a second time to shed light on new information revealed after the postmortem was conducted.

The autopsy conducted on Wednesday afternoon by pathologists Johansen Oduor and Peter Ndegwa could not conclusively establish the cause of the injury.

The blood alcohol concentration was very high, confirming an earlier statement by the friend that they had drunk liquor for hours.

The pathologists also established that Ogunda’s brain was swollen and there was blood in his lungs, heart and pancreas.

They concluded the head injury was inflicted by a blunt object.

Pathologists said that the presence of the blood in the lungs could have been caused by the deficiency of oxygen in body tissues, a condition commonly referred to as hypoxia.

The organs most affected by hypoxia are the brain, the heart and the liver. If the hypoxia is severe, irreversible damage can begin within four minutes.

Coma, seizures and death may occur in severe cases. Chronic, milder hypoxia can also cause damage to the major organs of the body.

Further tests are to be carried out, including analysis at the Government Chemist where samples were taken yesterday for toxicology tests.

Other samples, which the pathologists could not see with their naked eyes, will today be subjected to more tests.

Police are also investigating the circumstances surrounding a fight involving Mr Ogunda that took place at Mr Okoth’s house days before he met his death.

Nairobi police chief Benson Kibui said the fight was never reported to his officers who only learnt about it in the course of interrogations. During the incident, a door to a room used by security officers was broken. The broken door aroused the curiosity of detectives who visited the scene and were informed about the fighting.

Mr Ogunda is named as the lover of Mr Tuju’s wife in the ongoing divorce case.

Ogunda’s lawyer, Mr Cliff Ombeta, who represented the family and also attended the postmortem examination session, was also pursuing the death case at Kilimani police station.

Ogunda was living with friends in Upper Hill, Buru Buru and Umoja estates before he met his death.