Murder mystery that defied science, detectives for decades

Detectives dig out a compound in a homestead in Trans Mara where it is believed the remains of the late Julie Ward were buried. [File, Standard]

What is a father to do when malevolent forces conspire to snatch his only daughter and then pile layers of lies to mask the tragedy that saw her dismembered body dumped in a game sanctuary?

Not even three books, fictionalised films and a hundred trips covering over 1.2 million kilometers between Kenya and Britain in three decades has offered any answers to the mystery of what happened to Julie Ward. The British born wildlife photographer died mysteriously on September 2, 1988 in Masai Mara.

This tragedy started to unfold to Julie who was on her third trip to Kenya in September 1988 after an Australian Couple, Beth Symonds and Murali Varatharagan who were to accompany her on drive to Masai Mara Game reserve changed their plans.

And as if on cue her second hand Suzuki jeep developed mechanical problems on September 3, 1988 and would not start even after buying a new fuel pump which had to be airlifted to the remote sanctuary. After more than three days, they discovered that the breakdown had been caused by a broken wire. Its repair marked the beginning and not the end of her new nightmare.

John Ward learnt his daughter was in deep trouble after she failed to catch her flight on September 9, 1983 back to Britain and on inquiring from Paul and Natasha Watson of Karen, Nairobi, learnt that Julie was last seen in Masai Mara after she dropped back her rented tents at a lodge to start her journey back to Nairobi.

John who would visit Kenya more than a hundred times to try to establish what had really happened to Julie discovered parts of her body six days after her disappearance. Her Jeep abandoned in a ravine in the Masai Mara.

Although two inquests were conducted both in Nairobi and Ipswich, and an equivalent number of murder trials where suspects were acquitted, there were no conclusive findings on who had killed Julie and why. In the course of his quest for truth, John was fed with some dubious theories that Julie had been struck by lightning which cut her body and burnt it.

Other theories advanced by detective and intelligence agents from Britain and Kenya suggested that Julie had committed suicide, had been mulled by wild animals even though the jeep and her charred remains were found miles apart. The outraged father discounted this theory in his book, The Animals are Innocent: The Search for Julie's killers.

The confusion heightened when Kenya's chief government pathologist, Jason Kaviti altered the autopsy reports prepared by another pathologist, Adel Shaker to suggest that Julie had been killed by animals.

Although for a long time, John accused the Kenya authorities of covering up his daughter's murder, he was horrified to realise that secret service agents from his own country and the High commission in Nairobi had on a number of occasions distracted him and even suggested that Julie was struck by lightning.

Up to the time of his death last week, John believed his daughter was raped and then killed but died without unveiling who killed her although some men claiming to be highly trained mercenaries had in the course of investigations told the father that they had witnessed the murder.