There was blood in Olympic champion Wanjiru's house on the day he died, inquest told

The mother of the late Olympic champion Samuel Kamau Wanjiru claimed she found the sister to her son’s wife busy cleaning his blood-stained floor shortly after she was informed that he had been taken ill.

Hannah Wanjiru, while testifying at the beginning of the inquest into the athlete’s death, said when she entered her late son’s house on May 16, 2011, she was shocked to find Wangeci cleaning the bedroom. Kamau was married to Triza Njeri.

“I asked Wangeci why she was cleaning the room to clear the evidence. There was a pool of blood inside that room,” said Wanjiru. According to Wanjiru, Wangeci never answered her question.

Wanjiru said she rushed to Kamau’s house after she received a call from her other son, Simon Njoroge, informing her that Kamau was seriously sick and had been taken to hospital.

She added that after some minutes, she was informed by her sister that Kamau had died. Wanjiru said she did not go to the hospital that night because she was mourning.

“I received the news about the death of my son at around 12pm on May 15, 2011. I was told that he had died at Nyahururu General Hospital,” Wanjiru told the court.

METAL RODS

Kamau’s mother also told the court that she found two metal rods in her late son’s bedroom.

She said on the morning of May 16, 2011, she called the watchman, a Mr Maigwa, to confirm the news.

Maigwa told her that on the night of May 15, 2011, Kamau’s wife was dropped home by Gatimu, Kamau’s friend, who was also a runner.

Wanjiru’s mother said she lived around 300 metres from her late son’s house.

“I was not in my son’s house when the incident occurred and Kamau’s widow Njeri did not call me to inform me that my son was sick,” said Wanjiru.

The mother said she sent her friend, a Baba Macharia, who confirmed that indeed Wanjiru was dead.

Kamau’s mother said she also found blood on the table in her son’s house and that police officers were also inside the house. Kamau lived at Muthaiga in Nyahururu.

“There were many people outside the gate, even the people from the press,” she added.

Kamau’s mother added that later, she was called by a police inspector who informed her that there was blood inside Kamau’s room.

“When I entered that room, I realised there could have been a quarrel or a fight because some tiles had been broken,” she said.

Wanjiru said she was informed that Kamau’s wife had found her husband with another woman at home.

The mother further claimed Njeri had called Kamau, who was then training in Eldoret, for an urgent meeting at home, prompting him to travel late in the night to meet her.

“My son called me on Sunday during the day and informed me that he was due to travel and meet Njeri at home.

“How come then that he met his death at a time when the wife called for such a meeting,” she posed.

She wondered how the night guard failed to see her son entering the compound with a woman by the name Jane Nduta, as it was reported.