The court has allowed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prefer murder charge against the boyfriend of the late Tecra Muigai, the daughter of Kercohe Breweries owners, in a dramatic escalation of two months of investigation in Nairobi and Lamu.
When the case came up for mention before Senior Resident Magistrate Temba Sitati, the DPP applied for Omar Lali Omar’s detention saying detectives had gathered enough evidence to charge him with Tecra’s murder.
The prosecution claimed Omar murdered Tecra on May 3.
Omar has been accused of allegedly pushing Tecra off the stairs after a heated argument in their luxurious apartment in Lamu.
State counsel Eddie Kadebe and Zakaria Kiongo said there was enough evidence to convict Omar.
Kadebe said the toxicological evidence, postmortem reports, phone records including documentary exhibits and witness statements prove that Omar was behind the murder of Tecra.
“The decision to charge Omar with murder was taken after an exhaustive review of toxicological evidence, detailed postmortem reports, phone records, other documentary exhibits and witnesses’ statements,” he said.
According to a postmortem examination at Nairobi’s Lee Funeral Home on May 12, Tecra succumbed to head injuries after falling down the stairs.
The Senior Resident Magistrate directed that Omar be arraigned before the High Court in Garsen within 24 hours to take plea for the murder of his girlfriend failure to which he be granted police bond.
“The miscellaneous criminal application file is hereby closed. Let the homicide detectives present Omar Lali Omar before the High Court at Garsen within 24 hours to take the murder plea or if unable to present him within 24 hours he be admitted to police bond,” said Sitati.
Tecra’s family represented by senior counsel James Orengo, Mwaura Waihiga, Victor Soita and Elisha Ongoya said they were satisfied with the decision to charge Omar with murder.
Omar’s lawyer Aboubakar Yusuf did not object the decision to charge him with murder but promised to prove the innocence of his client.