Omar Lali and Tecra Muigai: Wealthy businesswoman Tabitha Karanja has said that she is afraid of her late daughter’s boyfriend, Omar Lali. Ms. Karanja says that out of this fear, she wants the inquest into her daughter’s death held in Nairobi instead of Lamu.
Through senior counsel, James Orengo, Ms. Karanja and her family told the court that Lali is an influential person among boat owners and operators as well as beach boys in and around Lamu Island. She then argued that since boat transport is the most reliable means of accessing Lamu Islands, there is a real and well-founded fear in the family that they may not travel to and from the Islands to attend and participate in the inquest proceedings at Lamu without a significant threat to their safety and life.
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This came as the inquest failed to kick off due to what was termed as differences between the Director of Public Prosecution and the Director of Criminal Investigations. The inquest was scheduled to start before Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku but the session aborted after the DPP said the matter should be transferred to Lamu. “The inquest ought to be in Lamu before a magistrate in that jurisdiction. If there is any concern, the Lamu magistrate’s court is the appropriate place to determine and hear the concerns,” State Counsel Joseph Riungu said.
This resulted in the Karanja family saying they no longer had faith in the DPP. “That it came as an extreme shock to the family of the deceased to learn that the Director of Public Prosecution has made another whimsical and arbitrary decision to terminate/withdraw the inquest proceedings from the Chief Magistrates Court at Milimani Law Courts with an indication of getting the same instituted at Lamu Law Courts,” the family said in an affidavit. Omar Lali and Tecra Muigai.
