Inquest: Ex-Nyeri governor Gakuru had fallen out with wife, filed for divorce

Former Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In the divorce case Gakuru accused the wife of cruelty, infidelity and disrespecting him in front of his friends at social places.
  • The governor wanted court to issue orders restraining his wife from interfering with his peace.
  • The inquest also heard that Gakuru had fallen out with his political advisor Mr Kinyua Kimuri.

Former Nyeri governor Wahome Gakuru was man under siege. 

An inquest that is seeking to establish the circumstances under which Gakuru died on Friday heard that the former governor had fallen out with his wife Catherine Kirumba and friends who missed appointments in his government.

In her testimony, Ms Kirumba said the governor had filed a divorce petition, which is yet to be closed, in the Milimani Court in Nairobi.

DIVORCE

At the time of his death on November 7, 2017 the proceedings of the divorce, which was registered as Div 299 of 2013, had not started.

The inquest led by Nyeri Chief Magistrate Wendy Kagendo heard that in the divorce petition, Gakuru accused the wife of cruelty, infidelity and disrespecting him in front of his friends at social places.

Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Peter Mailanyi told the inquest that Ms Kirumba had denied the governor access to their Runda home.

In the petition, Gakuru claimed that his wife had incited their three children against him.

He alleged that Ms Kirumba, while driving dangerously, had chased him from Upperhill to Nairobi Central Business District.

The governor wanted court to issue orders restraining his wife from interfering with his peace.

PERSONAL ITEMS

Mr Mailanyi also questioned why the widow was close to the governor’s security guard named Josphat Mwangi alias Baba Maina.

The inquest heard that Mr Mwangi used to visit the couple’s Runda home in absence of the governor.

The inquest heard that at one point, the governor had moved with his personal items to Nairobi Club.

But during the 2017 campaigns, political brokers requested Ms Kirumba to be accompanying the governor in his campaigns.

She was introduced to voters as the governor’s wife. She also graced the governor’s swearing in ceremony where she was introduced as the first lady.

The couple however, fell out a month later. A county government vehicle allocated to her was recalled.  

VEHICLE WITHDRAWN

The widow denied having a sour relationship with her husband. She claimed that despite the pending divorce suit in court, their relationship was cordial.

She said the county government vehicle was withdrawn because it had been irregularly given to her. She said that the governor wanted to regularise the process.

The widow also denied being an intimate relationship with her husband’s driver Mr Samuel Kinyanjui and the security guard Mr Mwangi.

She denied a suggestion by the State and family lawyer Martha Waweru that she may have hatched a plan to eliminate the governor.

The inquest also heard that Gakuru had fallen out with his political advisor Mr Kinyua Kimuri.

POLITICAL RIVALS

Mr Kimuri and other political rivals of the governor are said to have held a party in Karatina to celebrate the fall out. During the party, they are said to have made statements threatening the governor.

The widow said the governor’s national identity card and mobile phone went missing at the scene of the accident and have never been recovered.

She added that officers at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are no longer pursuing the lost items.

Government Chief Pathologist Johansen Odour told the court that Gakuru died due to excessive bleeding caused by the severe injuries on his back, ribs and chest.

Mr Oduor said during a post-mortem exercise at Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi that he found a yellowish solid substance in the governor’s stomach.

State Counsel Peter Mailanyi told the inquest that the governor was attended to by a group of interns at Thika Level Five Hospital despite the nature of his injuries and personality. The public inquest will continue on October 25, November 4 and 5.