Tecra 'sent lover Omar Sh1.2m within months'

Keroche Breweries owner Tabitha Karanja has blamed the man who dated her daughter for driving her to her death through a turbulent relationship.

In a tell-it-all testimony before an inquest into the death of Tecra Muigai, Mrs Karanja said her daughter would have achieved her big dreams were it not for the relationship with Omar Lali, which she blamed for her death.

Mrs Karanja, the first witness in the inquest, painted a picture of Omar being a lucky man who hit a jackpot in his old age with a young woman who would shower him with gifts, drinks, holidays and money in his accounts without breaking a sweat.

The Keroche Breweries owner said eight months after Tecra and Omar began their relationship, her daughter had transferred more than Sh1.2 million to her boyfriend's account through bank and mobile money transfers.

“This was very suspicious, given that Omar was old and Tecra was very young. It would have been vice-versa, for him to send her money. And if Tecra was the one giving him money, then there was something very wrong with their relationship,” said Mrs Karanja.

She testified that the family was against Tecra’s relationship with Omar from the time they became aware of it in August 2019, but her daughter insisted on being with Omar. She said Tecra eventually eloped with Omar to Lamu.

“She sent me the picture of Omar, but I told her the man was too old to be her boyfriend. She then eloped with him to Lamu, but later agreed to come back to Naivasha, where we tried to talk to her, but she refused to leave him,” she said.

Keroche Breweries owner Tabitha Karanja at a Milimani court yesterday when she testified in an inquest into the death of her daughter Tecra Muigai. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

According to Karanja, it was not the best feeling for a mother to see her daughter who at the time was 29 insisting on dating a man who was more than 55 years.

She said Tecra returned to Lamu in February 2020, ignoring their advice. She said Tecra and Omar's relationship worsened days later.

Mrs Karanja said Tecra called her and said she wanted to return home, making her to sense that there were problems. Her daughter could, however, not travel back immediately due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Mrs Karanja told the court that on April 23, 2020, Omar called them and said Tecra had fallen down the stairs of their apartment and was taken to hospital. “He told us our daughter was unconscious and needed a scan on her head. We then organised for her to be airlifted to Nairobi, where a scan showed she had two fractures on her skull,” said Mrs Karanja.

She said Tecra's death was not due to a normal fall, given that the postmortem report concluded that the injuries to her head were caused by something that hit her head.

Another witness, Peter Kariuki, said he became aware of Tecra’s relationship with Omar in August 2019 when she was taking him for a holiday tour of Mt Kenya and that he was violent throughout the time.

The inquest into Tecra’s death was instituted after the Director of Public Prosecution withdrew murder charges against Omar for lack of evidence.

Hearing continues today.