Family seeks answers on daughter’s death

The family of a woman, 28, who died following a domestic brawl with her husband in Nairobi, has given instructions that her body should not be touched amid fears that there could be a conspiracy to interfere with the post-mortem.

Mr Douglas Ouma Nyakach, the father of Beryl Adhiambo Ouma, suspects that his son-in-law, Mr Laiko Osuri, is related to the chief government pathologist Johannsen Oduor, and fears that the relationship may come into play at his daughter’s post-mortem.

VIOLENT FIGHT

Mr Nyakach Friday said nobody will be allowed to view Ms Ouma’s body in his absence. At the Chiromo Funeral Parlour, officials obliged and only allowed people to view the body in Mr Nyakach’s presence.

A post-mortem will be performed Saturday to ascertain the cause of her death that happened shortly after reports of a violent fight with her husband at their home in Kahawa Sukari estate.

Mr Nyakach claimed that her death occurred under suspicious circumstances, which his in-laws were trying to hide.

He recounted how on Thursday morning he had received distress messages from his daughter, an employee of Guru Nanak Hospital, asking him to call her at 5am.

“I reached her on phone, but her husband picked the call. I could hear my girl in the background crying in pain and telling her husband not to lie to me, that he was killing her. She begged him to let her speak to me, but he hung up,” Mr Nyakach said.

At around 7am, he recounted that Mr Osuri’s father called, telling him Ms Ouma had been taken to hospital following the fight with her husband.

Mr Nyakach rushed to Uhai Neema Hospital in Kahawa Sukari where the daughter was, only to find her dead.

She had been taken there by Mr Osuri and his parents, the hospital informed him.

“Why didn’t the hospital alert the police when a body was brought to them?” Mr Nyakach posed.

EVIDENCE

He said he went to the couple’s house with the police and found no evidence of a scuffle save for a bloody headscarf that the officers took as evidence.

Ms Ouma’s brother Mark Ouma indicated the couple had wed in a colourful ceremony in October 2017. Their troubles, however, began early 2018.

He suspected that money issues could have played a part in the squabbles as Mr Osuri had left his job in Qatar last year.

“We sat them down last year and talked and they reconciled,” he said.

Mr Ouma narrated how the neighbours had tried to intervene in the fight that started at 2am but found the door locked from inside.

“They said that my sister would poke her head out of the window and tell them that all was well, that they would resolve their issues,” he said.

He had also received distress calls from his sister that morning, but he was asleep.

COMPLICATED

Mr Nyakach said he suspects that his daughter died at around 5am and that Mr Osuri’s parents were present during the fight.

He claimed that the hospital attendants had informed him that the two had tried to get them to issue a transfer letter, allowing them to take the body to the mortuary instead of involving the police.

Mr Nyakach said that the family’s connection with Dr Oduor will make the matter more complicated.

He wants the chief pathologist to excuse himself from the postmortem so that he can have faith in the exercise that would reveal what killed his daughter.