Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja has opposed the DPP’s application to move an inquest into her daughter’s death to Lamu.
Through her lawyer James Orengo, Karanja told the court that her family is afraid of Omar Lali, the former boyfriend of her daughter, Patricia Tecra Muigai.
The Keroche family argues that Lali is an influential person among boat owners and operators as well as beach boys in and around Lamu Island.
Karanja says since boat transport is the most reliable means of accessing Lamu Islands, “There is real and well-founded fear in our family that we may not travel to and from Lamu islands to attend and participate in the inquest proceedings at Lamu without significant threat to our life and safety”.
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The family’s application came after the DPP sought to transfer the inquest proceedings from Milimani in Nairobi to Lamu.
In a sworn affidavit, Tabitha said her family believes that DPP Noordin Haji is responding to instructions or pressure from a third party not to prosecute those responsible for Tecra’s death.
“It came as a shock to the family of the deceased to learn that the Director of Public Prosecutions has made another whimsical and arbitrary decision to terminate/withdraw the inquest proceedings from the chief magistrate’s court in Milimani law courts….,” Karanja said.
The billionaire family also noted that since the deceased succumbed in a Nairobi hospital, there is no absolute need to have the inquest transferred to Lamu.
“As a result of such conduct on the part of the DPP, we no longer have confidence in the DPP handling this matter,” Karanja says in an affidavit.
Nairobi senior principal magistrate Zainab Abdul heard both parties on Tuesday and directed the DPP to file responses and appear in court on October 14 for hearing.
