It will take at least three weeks to know the exact cause of University of Nairobi scholar Gilbert Ogutu’s death.
Ogutu (pictured) was an associate professor in the department of religious studies at the University of Nairobi.
His body was found hanging from the shutters of a window at his Usigu home in Siaya County on Sunday morning.
Although initial reports indicated that Ogutu may have killed himself, police said they were investigating if this was the case.
After a postmortem examination that ran late into Monday night at the Bondo Sub-county Hospital mortuary, consultant pathologist Dickson Muchana said he could not immediately declare the cause Ogutu’s death.
Instead, Dr Muchana said he needed at least three more weeks to conclusively state what killed the professor.
He told family members that he needed the time to conduct more tests on samples taken from Ogutu’s body to determine the cause of death.
“We have done an exhaustive autopsy and for now I would say that my findings are inconclusive,” he said.
According to the pathologist, a physical examination of Ogutu’s body could not immediately determine the cause of death.
“As of now, we have agreed that nothing tangible was found to explain the cause of death,” said Muchana.
After the autopsy, Ogutu’s body was transferred to Kisumu, as the family starts burial arrangements.
Kennedy Oduor, a family member who was present during the autopsy, said they had expected to know the cause of Ogutu’s death after the process.
“The fact that autopsy results were unable to immediately establish the cause of death is worrying, but we are convinced that the pathologist did his work professionally,” he said.
The family had assembled at the mortuary on Monday from around 11am and waited until about 6.30pm, when the pathologist arrived.
