Lawyer Paul Gicheru was yesterday eulogised as a generous brother, loving family man and sharp lawyer who took on the most complicated cases and won in his decades long career as a legal practitioner in the country.
These were the words shared by family and friends who gathered at Regina Caeli Catholic church in Karen for his requiem mass in Nairobi whose tributes further painted a picture of a trustworthy and dependable man to his family, friends, clients and colleagues.
His wife Ruth Nyambura said time may not heal the wound that she and her family has been left with but will instead teach them how to live with the pain of not having him around.
“On Monday before you went to be with the Lord, you held my hands and said to me that nobody will ever separate us. It is very hard for me to accept that you are no longer here. I still can’t believe that you are gone, it was too soon. We have shared 23 years of our lives together and I surely thank God for you. Years that have been full of joy, fulfilment blessings that cannot be summarised on paper. Our boys will miss you so much,” she said.
She encouraged her three sons Allan, Alvin and Alex who study in the United Kingdom not to fear as they start on a new chapter of their lives without their father.
“Do not feel alone, dad is still with us and will forever watch over us,”she said.
The sons in a joint tribute said their father was a man with a great heart, loving, slow to anger and selfless in the way he helped others.
“We love you dad, we will miss you dearly and we hope to see you again. Rest in peace,” they said.
Gicheru’s siblings, Pastor Esther Wairimu and his brother Hoseah attended the mass and said their brother’s death was a huge loss to the family as he had taken the bread winner’s role when their father died.
“What we are requesting for is prayers because we know prayers are a weapon that was given by our Lord Jesus and as a family,” she said.
Gicheru, who had been charged with bribing witnesses who were to testify in the trial of President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC), was found unconscious in his bedroom on the evening of September 26 and declared dead by medics who were called in to resuscitate him.
His death brings to a close, a case that was to be ruled soon as The Hague based court does not convict or acquit the dead.
A post-mortem on his body was conducted on Friday but the findings have not been shared officially by his family, lawyer, pathologist or homicide detectives.
Attempts to get answers from them have borne no fruit. No one wants to be quoted on record as confirming the cause of death even as samples picked were taken to the government chemist for further toxicological tests.
And as the family prepares to bury him on Thursday at this Cedar Dairy farm in Kwa-Nguku village in Bahati, Nakuru County, questions remain as to what may have led to his sudden death. Police said the matter is being investigated.
Mr Gicheru leaves behind a successful law firm Gicheru Company Advocates with two branches in Nairobi and Eldoret. His peers described him as a hard working lawyer and mentor as his classmates described him as a refined introvert and brilliant student.
The mass was also attended by lawyer Katwa Kigen, former Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, Law Society of Kenya Chairman Eric Theuri, Gicheru’s former schoolmates amongst other guests.
