Wealthy businesswoman Tabitha Karanja wants the inquest into her daughter’s death held in Nairobi instead of Lamu, saying that she is afraid of Omar Lali.
Through their lawyer, James Orengo, the family told the court that Lali, the former boyfriend of her daughter, Patricia Tecra Muigai, is an influential person among boat owners and operators as well as beach boys in and around Lamu Island.
Tabitha argued that since boat transport is the most reliable means of accessing Lamu Islands, there is a real and well-founded fear in the family that they may not travel to and from the Islands to attend and participate in the inquest proceedings at Lamu without a significant threat to their safety and life.
The billionaire family, who own the Keroche Breweries Ltd, made the application after the Director of Public Prosecutions sought to transfer the inquest from Nairobi to Lamu.
In her sworn affidavit, Tabitha said her family no longer has confidence in the DPP’s handling of the matter.
“That it came as an extreme shock to the family of the deceased to learn that the Director of Public Prosecution has made another whimsical and arbitrary decision to terminate/withdraw the inquest proceedings from the Chief Magistrates Court at Milimani Law Courts with an indication of getting the same instituted at Lamu Law Courts,” read the affidavit.
Further, Tabitha accused the DPP of flip-flopping citing the prosecutor’s decision to charge Lali with murder at Garsen Law Courts and thereafter discharging the suspect without any charges preferred against him.
Tecra died in Nairobi on May 2, after she was airlifted from King Fahad Hospital in Lamu where she was taken after allegedly falling down on stairs in the house she shared with Lali.
