Omar Lali, the boyfriend of the late Tecra Muigai was a jealous, possessive and protective man, her former bodyguard Erick Cheruiyot told a Nairobi court.
Cheruiyot, who took the stand to testify in the inquest into Tecra’s death on Wednesday, March 10, told the court that Omar threatened him twice, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Lamu, Kenya.
“I can do something bad to you [so that] even your kids will miss you,” Erick revealed the words that Omar allegedly uttered after he confronted him. But Tecra, he said, brushed off the threat, telling him to just go sleep.
Erick, who served as a KDF soldier for six years, told the court that Omar verbally abused Tecra while they were in Dar es Salaam for her brother’s birthday party.
“He called her B****, M******, I*****. I couldn’t take it. I told Omar that she was my boss and he couldn’t call her those names,” said Erick.
In Dar es Salaam, the personal assistant of Tecra’s brother grabbed her handbag from Omar, telling him that she was too young for him.
“When we arrived at the hotel in Dar es Salaam, we found James Karanja (Tecra’s brother) there and she wanted to surprise him [for his birthday],” said Erick.
At the party, Erick said, Omar kept to himself and refused to join the rest in the birthday celebrations even after Tecra prodded him.
When Erick confronted him about keeping to himself, he retorted that “he wasn’t pleased with the company.”
Later when they travelled to Lamu, Erick said Omar threatened him again, reminding him about their altercation in Dar es Salaam.
“Do you know you’re in my home? What you did to me in Dar es Salaam, I will never forget. You don’t know me. Your kids can miss you,” Erick said, revealing the second time Omar threatened him.
Erick said Omar told him that Tecra did not have a need for a driver or bodyguard because he could provide those services.
He said when Tecra needed money, he would send the cash using Omar’s M-Pesa line since she didn’t have a phone with an activated M-Pesa line.
However, according to the bodyguard, Omar always used to complain he never received the money prompting him to inform her mother, Tabitha Karanja.
Erick revealed that Tecra had once thrown out Omar from her Naivasha home.
“I came in the morning and the domestic worker asked me what I had to the people the night before because she found Omar crying with his bags at the door,” Erick said.
Tecra had thrown him out, revealed Erick, saying that she had directed him to take him to the airport but after the two conferred on the balcony for two hours she changed her mind.
The inquest is being held to determine what caused the mysterious death of Tabitha’s daughter, Tecra, who died on May 2, 2020, from injuries allegedly sustained in a house fall.
Tabitha is the Chief Executive Officer of Keroche Breweries.
