Samuel Wanjiru's death inquest fails to kick off

By Lucianne Limo

Kenya: An inquest into the death of Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru failed to take off Monday.

The lawyers representing both the widow and the mother of the athlete asked the court to adjourn the matter saying they had not had the chance to peruse the witness statements and police file to be able to cross examine the witnesses.

Although the prosecution said it was ready to proceed with the hearing, Chief Magistrate Hannah Ndungu pushed the hearing until May 14 and 15.

The hearing of Wanjiru’s death was slated to begin in Nyahururu but the athlete’s mother Hannah Wanjiru moved to court to stop the exercise on grounds that Nakuru High Court judge Anyara Emukule had, in 2011, directed the inquest be held Nairobi.

The late athlete’s mother and Widow Tereza Wanjiru were at loggerheads as to where the inquest should be held with the widow preferring Nyahururu where the death occurred.

 Tereza said there was no reason for taking the matter to Nairobi since all the over 20 witnesses expected to testify in the inquest were based in Nyahururu.

Last December, Nyahururu Senior Principal Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan directed that the file be placed before the Chief Magistrate’s court at Milimani in Nairobi on Monday for setting of hearing dates.

 “Ordinarily it is the nearest court that hears such matters, but with the existing orders, our hands are tied.” Mikoyan said in reference to an order made by Nakuru high Court.

The late Kamau who won Kenya’s first Olympic marathon gold in Beijing died on the night of May 15, 2011 from what police said was a fall from the balcony of his single storeyed house at Muthaiga estate in Nyahururu town.

His mother claimed his son was murdered and demanded that a fresh probe into his death be conducted.

A report released to the police by the then Chief Government pathologist Dr Moses Njue contradicted the theory by the police that the Olympic champion died from head injuries sustained in a fall from the balcony of his house at Nyahururu’s Muthaiga Estate.

The report gave three theories of how the injuries could have been inflicted.

First, Wanjiru’s injuries could have been independently inflicted. In the second theory he could have fallen and landed on fours and then stood up and fell on his back.

Third, he could have fallen on his fours, sprung in the air when his upper limbs turned in a somersault style and came down head first.