A magistrate will determine next month whether the inquest into the death of Keroche heiress Tecra Muigai will be heard in Lamu.
Senior Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul set November 17 date after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) pressed for the inquest to be conducted in Lamu where he said key witnesses are based.
On Wednesday, Gitonga Riungu, a State prosecutor, defended the decision by the DPP to have the matter handled in Lamu and not Nairobi.
Mr Riungu said the decision to call for an inquest was informed by a review of the data which the DPP received from investigators showing lack of evidence to sustain a murder charge against Mr Omari Lali.
“There was no evidence to sustain a murder charge against Lamu boat operator who had been accused of murdering Tecra Muigai,” the DPP said after reviewing the evidence collected by police.
Mr Gitonga said the DPP dropped the murder case against Mr Lali then ordered for an inquest saying it was the best option, so as to establish the cause of Tecra’s death.
He said majority of the witnesses alluded to by Tecra's mother Tabitha Karanja in her correspondence to the office of the DPP are expert witnesses and that nothing bars them from testifying in Lamu.
The DPP has also dismissed allegations by the Karanja family that it is the ODPP that registered the inquest in Nairobi.
“Directions were given to the Inspector General of Police to register the inquest subsequent to which by letters dated August 25, 2020 and on September 16, the DCI wrote to the chief magistrate at the Milimani Law Courts to register the inquest. It is therefore not true that the inquest was registered in Nairobi by the ODPP,” the affidavit reads.
Responding to claims that Lali rules Lamu Island, owns a boat and thus has influence on the island, the DPP said no evidence has been furnished to that effect and the family should strictly prove the claims.
“There is no evidence express or manifest that has been tendered to show that the suspect or any other person has intention of causing any harm to the deponent’s family. In the absence thereof, the deponent cannot make such grave allegations,” he added.
On the allegation that he made a whimsical and arbitrary decision to withdraw the inquest proceedings from Milimani in preference for Lamu, the DPP has said the decision was made after review of the file based on the jurisdiction where the incident occurred.
He dismissed claims by the family to appoint a special prosecutor due to lack of confidence in him saying it was baseless.
Last week, Tecra’s mother through her lawyer James Orengo opposed the application by the DPP to move the inquest to Lamu.
Her boyfriend, Omar Lali, was arrested and kept in custody but the DPP dropped the murder case against him in July then recommended an inquest.
