A section of police officers based at Kasarani Police Station, who were the first responders at the scene of the crime of interior designer Jeff Mwathi, sought to close the case and rule it as suicide, a homicide detective told the media.
Reports on Monday, March 27, indicated that the probe into Mwathi's case was carried out by two opposing camps with a section seeking investigations to be launched into the matter while the other sought the case to be ruled as suicide.
A source privy to the matter, who sought anonymity, intimated to the media that the original version of the CCTV footage showed that Mwathi was pushed out of the window from DJ Fatxo's house.
The detective noted that various videos shared online were doctored to create the impression that the interior designer jumped out of his own volition.
"If you keenly watched the original version of the CCTV footage and not the others that were doctored and shared online, the deceased was pushed out of a tiny window from the tenth floor. He fell face-down with his hands outstretched toward the ground.
“Two things here, the deceased was intoxicated. Secondly, the people who did it (did not know what to do after the crime). It was not a suicide but what we don’t know for now is the motive,’’ the detective told Nation.
The investigations could soon take a new twist after Inspector General Japhet Koome recently revealed that the police would go to court to obtain orders to exhume Mwathi's body.
According to IG Koome, the request came from Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin who noted that there were glaring inconsistencies during the investigations.
The IG affirmed that examining the body would give a clear-cut point of view to the investigations and determine the direction the probe would take.
The DCI has brought to my attention one case where we shall go to court to obtain an order for exhumation. We were informed that the deceased jumped from a house and assessed the window
"We need to have that body exhumed, look at the dimensions of the opening, and compare it to his body," Koome stated on Sunday, March 26.
IG Koome also noted the recent trend in death probes emanating from Kasarani, Nairobi County, where victims reportedly jumped off buildings.
He added that detectives would ensure no stone is left unturned in a bid to conclude the investigations.
"When anyone dies, we identify it as sudden death under the Criminal Procedure Code. The police then start an inquiry to determine whether it is murder or suicide," he explained.
