Karen Nyamu’s name pops up in court as Samidoh is grilled over Jeff Mwathi’s death
By Zipporah Ngwatu, August 12, 2025Controversial United Democratic Alliance (UDA) nominated Senator Karen Nyamu’s name popped up in court during the late Jeff Mwathi inquest at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, August 11, 2025.
Senator Nyamu’s name came up when Lawrence Njuguna, alias DJ Fatxo’s lawyer, was cross-examining Mugithi artiste Samuel Muchoki, popularly known as Samidoh, who is a key witness in the inquest after he tendered his testimony.
During the proceedings, lawyer Duncan Okatch, representing DJ Fatxo, told the court that Samidoh had no issues with how the case was handled until Senator Nyamu decided to blow up the issue way later, after the burial of the deceased.
“You never had issues with this process; your issues started when Karen Nyamu, your girlfriend then, I believe, decided to explode this thing, and I will demonstrate to you,” lawyer Okatch stated.
Lawyer Okatch’s reference to the Senator got Samidoh by surprise, prompting him to ask the learnt lawyer how exactly he had referred to Nyamu.
‘Whom did you say she was?’ Samidoh asked the lawyer.
This led to lawyer Okatch apologising. “Oh, sorry, sorry, we were told she had a relationship with you, or you were fond of each other during that particular time, but she actually was at the forefront of the media publication about this matter,” lawyer Okatch added.
Further, he told the Mugithi artiste that it is upon him to accept or not accept the terms of the relationship.
Appearing before Magistrate Rose Ndumbi, the defence lawyer told the court that there was no issue during the deceased’s burial and the ceremony proceeded with no issues at all.
He further pointed out that issues came up weeks after the late Jeff was buried, when social media was ablaze with different theories on the cause of the deceased’s death.
“Let me demonstrate to you where these issues started. After the burial, everything was quiet until social media one day was ablaze with a lot of theories, and this is captured in this particular application by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Lawyer Okatch then referred the court to an affidavit by Corporal Philip Kilonzo deposed on March 27, 2023, in criminal application No. E117 of 2023.
He then directed Samidoh to read paragraph 10 of the affidavit.
“That a section in social media in Kenya has claimed that the deceased was sexually assaulted before his death,” Samidoh read to the court.
Samidoh also proceeded to confirm that the said allegations were indeed trending on social media platforms.
The sexual assault allegations led to the exhuming of the deceased body for another autopsy to be conducted.
“There is someone, my brother, lawyer Danstan Omari. I’m happy he is the one who said it. There is a senator by the name Karen Nyamu. Do you know that person?” ‘Okatch?’ asked Samidoh.
“Yes, I do,” Samidoh replied.
The lawyer then stated that around 2023, when these issues had cropped up, the two were close to each other.
In his response, Samidoh asked lawyer Okatch, “How close?”
Okatch then told him that he was the one to tell the court how close they were.
“How were you close? Was she a friend, or maybe she is still a friend? Lawyer Okatch asked Samidoh again.
“Probably more than a friend,” Samidoh replied.
He then said, “Ah, I’m happy you are the one who has said it, probably more than a friend,” Okatch added.
He revealed that Senator Nyamu was at the forefront, giving different analogies of how, according to her, Jeff Mwathi died on social media.
However, Samidoh said that everyone talked about Jeff’s death on social media.
He also told the court that the second autopsy requested by the family did not indicate any sexual assault of the deceased.