Police seek more time in Kenei probe

Police are still trying to understand the circumstances of Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei’s death, a week after his decomposing body was found in his house in Nairobi’s Imara Daima estate.

Kenei, an Administration Police officer attached to Deputy President William Ruto’s office, was found dead last Thursday after neighbours called police to check the source of a foul smell emanating from his house.

On Thursday, after examining the house for over six hours, Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor did not reveal whether the officer was killed or died by his own hand.

“There are many things we have seen, which we will not mention at this juncture until we piece together what has been collected so far to come up with a conclusion,” he said.

But he confirmed that there were blood stains inside the house and that the Government Chemist collected more swabs from the scene for further analysis.

CAUSE OF DEATH

He added that the findings of the various teams investigating the death would reveal whether it was a case of foul play.

Kenei’s death added a twist to the Sh40 billion fake arms deal in which former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa and three others have been charged.

The four allegedly met at the DP’s office to discuss the deal and Kenei was on duty at the time.

“From what we have seen, we think this house was the primary scene. But remember, there are other things which are coming up; there are also lab tests that can tell us whether it happened here or not,” said Dr Oduor.

“There is a team working on this probe and each team has its own way of doing their thing, so I cannot talk on their behalf. There will be a lot of waiting from the laboratory to give us what they have seen as we establish the officer’s cause of death,” said Dr Oduor.

The pathologist was with the same team that witnessed the post-mortem examination at Chiromo Mortuary on Wednesday.

POST-MORTEM

They were Dr Richard Njoroge (a government pathologist), Directorate of Criminal Investigations crime scene and homicide detectives, Kenei’s family doctor and two family pathologists.

The post-mortem examination on Kenei’s body revealed that the bullet that killed him was from a pistol that was held to his chin.

It also revealed that he died a day or two before his body was found lying on the floor of his house.

The examination also revealed that the body bore no bruises, eliminating the possibility of a struggle at the time of death.

Additional report Wairimu Mbogori