This archive report was first published on 3 October 2019.
On November 7, 2017, Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru died in a road accident on the Nairobi-Kenol highway. According to Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor, the governor died from excessive bleeding.
Dr. Gakuru's body had several cuts and abrasions, which Oduor described as pale. The pathologist testified in a public inquest into the governor's death at the Nyeri Law Courts on Thursday.
Three other witnesses, including the governor's widow, Catherine Wahome, testified in the inquest. Catherine revealed that the governor had filed for divorce in 2013, and the two had lived separately since 2008. However, the divorce had not been finalized at the time of the governor's death.
Catherine denied allegations by the governor's family lawyer, Martha Waweru, that she could have been involved in a plot to kill the governor. Waweru had claimed that Catherine could have had an ill motive due to their troubled marriage and the withdrawal of her official car.
Catherine stated that she could not have killed her husband due to her convictions and faith. Dr. Loise Mathini, an intern at the Thika Level 5 Hospital who received the governor's body, also testified in the inquest. She said that the governor's clothes were soaked in blood when he was brought into the facility, and efforts to stop the bleeding and perform a blood transfusion were unsuccessful.
