Omar Lali, the boyfriend of slain Keroche Breweries heiress Tecra Muigai, bargained for love but ended up receiving millions of shillings from the woman, an inquest into her death heard on Tuesday.
Tecra’s mother Tabitha Karanja narrated how her daughter, who died on May 2, transferred more than Sh2 million to Lali’s account in a span of eight months.
Omar Lali (centre) celebrates with his friends and family after he was set free in the murder case of his girlfriend Tecra Muigai.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Besides monies transferred from her bank account to Lali’s at Gulf African Bank, Tecra who succumbed to head injuries, asked her family to be sending M-Pesa to her through Lali’s mobile phone.
Maintaining that she wanted justice for her daughter, Karanja said it was strange for her daughter to be sending money to a 50-year-old man and even paying his bills.
“It should be the other way round,” she told senior principal magistrate Zainab Abdul.
“In all her lifetime, she has never sent or transferred money to anyone, the way she did to Omar,” she said, adding that they compiled the records from her bank and M-Pesa statements.
DPP drops murder case against Lali
Referring to a bank statement filed in court, Karanja said Tecra transferred Sh150,000 to Mr Lali’s account on August 19, 2019.
She transferred a similar amount the following day and a further Sh100,000 each, on October 18 and November 1, 2019.
On November 13, 2019, she transferred Sh200,000 to Mr Lali’s account followed by Sh100,000 on December 10.
About three months later, on March 3, 2020, she transferred Sh60,000 to his account and a further Sh80,000 on March 13.
The bank statement further shows that she transferred Sh400,000 to his account on December 30.
From M-Pesa statements, Karanja’s executive assistant Saritah Ikenye told the court that it was Tecra who instructed them to be sending money to Lali’s mobile phone.
In December 2019, for example, she said she sent a total of Sh80,000 to him in two tranches on December 19 and 28.
In January 2020, she sent to his mobile phone a total of Sh80,000 between January 14 and 20.
In February alone, she said she sent a total of Sh60,000 ranging between Sh10,000 and 20,000.
She sent a total of Sh105,000 in March 2020— Sh20,000 on March 5; Sh45,000 two days later and Sh40,000 on March 25.
Ms Tecra died in mysterious circumstances at her rented apartment in Shela, Lamu County.
Omar Lali (left), the boyfriend of late Keroche Breweries heiress Tecra Muigai, after the DPP dropped the murder case against him.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
She had sustained injuries on the left side of her head and she is believed to have fallen off the stairs of a house where she was staying with Mr Lali.
Another witness, Peter Kariuki, told the court that the two had constant arguments in the three or four occasions they met.
Kariuki, who works in a hotel in Naivasha and is a childhood friend of Tecra, said he remembers a trip they went together to Mt Kenya region and spent some three days together, where the two had heated arguments and had to be separated by her driver, a Mr Cheruiyot.
The witness said Lali would get agitated or uncomfortable whenever a friend of Tecra would join their table.
“Before they picked me (up), I could tell they had had an argument. On reaching the venue, I left them there in the car. A few minutes later, I saw Tecra and Omar in the company of Cheruiyot. It appears things had cooled down but Omar isolated himself," he said.
Mr Lali, he said, would eventually join their table before they had another argument.
“I am not sure whether it was about jealousy. It was the first time I saw Omar grab Roy, a friend and Tecra intervened,” he said.
The following day, the witness said, she asked her what was going on and she opened up to him, saying they had been having a lot of arguments.
Most of the time, he said, the argument centered on why Lali was not listening to her or why he did not want anybody around her.
“She also told me that a week or two they had been on a trip to Tanzania where Omar got into a terrible argument with her brother, which almost led into a fight,” he said.
The working relationship with the driver and ties with her friends, he said, changed when he came into her life.
Mr Lali was arraigned before the High Court in Garsen to face a charge of murder but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) withdrew the case and ordered an inquest into her death. The hearing continues today.
