The mysterious death of MARTIN WAHOME, who died at a hotel room in Mwea shortly after meeting a lady while on a business trip - His family demands justice (PHOTOs)

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 - Who killed Martin Wahome Thairu? He left his house in Nairobi to travel all the way to Mwea to buy rice for his dear wife who runs a Cereal shop just to be told he was dead in a hotel in Mwea the same night he left.

My name is Dennis Kariuki Thairu, brother to the late Martin Wahome Thairu. writing this on behalf of our family and friends, to express our frustrations about how the DCI Wang’uru has handled the investigations concerning the death of our brother Martin.

We are extremely worried that this case has not been handled with the usual professionalism and efficiency that Kenyans deserve and get from the DCI, denying us the truth and Justice for our brother, son, husband, and father.

Martin met his untimely death on the evening of Saturday 2nd December 2023 in Wanguru, Mwea. We learnt of his fate the next day as Martin was to embark on a journey to Nyeri on the morning of the 3rd with my aunt, but she could not reach him and instead, Martin’s phone was being picked up by a gentleman who identified himself as a policeman but could not give my aunt more details on his whereabouts.

My aunt called me and after explaining to me the situation I called Martin’s line and it was picked up on the third call by the same policeman who introduced himself as Mike Arusei, he informed me that Martin had apparently been taken ill, the previous night of 2nd, while in a lodging room at a club named CRUCIAL IN WANG'URU

He then told me that according to the staff at Crucial, he had started complaining that he was not feeling well after taking too much alcohol and they decided to book a room for him, still within the club, so that he can relax and feel better.

The staff also say that Martin had asked them to be ‘checking up’ on him. They said that they later found him sweating and unresponsive whereby they called the club’s manager who came from his home and took him using his own vehicle, and in the company of a lady who manages the room, to KIMBIMBI HOSPITAL where Martin was declared dead while still in the vehicle outside the hospital.

The manager then reported the issue to KIMBIMBI POLICE STATION who then referred him to WANG'URU POLICE STATION since it was outside their jurisdiction. The Wanguru officers after receiving the report went to Kimbimbi Police station and viewed the deceased then took him to Kerugoya County Referral Hospital early Sunday morning.

They also mentioned having visited the club afterward but finding nothing unusual.

After speaking to Arusei on the phone, I proceeded with my cousin and uncle to Wanguru police station where we met Mr. Arusei and his colleague. They showed us Martin’s vehicle and his belongings, including his phone.

They then narrated to us the same version of events and that they(police) drove Martin’s car from the club to the police station and then informed us that a postmortem would be done on Tuesday 5th December.

The three of us then left the police station and proceeded to Kerugoya County Referral where we viewed Martin’s body for the first time. It was clear at first glance that he had been assaulted. His left cheek was heavily swollen. He had a bruise on his forehead and visible bruises on his right side along the rib cage area.

He had a white t-shirt which was stained with blood oozing from his nose on the left side, and a lot of dirt on his back as if he was lying down or being dragged on the ground.

As earlier promised by the police the postmortem was done on Tuesday afternoon by a Medical Officer named Francis Ndirangu Karomo. Before he started, I mentioned to him about the swollen cheek and the bruise on the forehead. Our uncle and two cousins were present during the postmortem.

He proceeded to begin the postmortem and at first, ONLY dissected Martin’s torso. According to him, Martin’s other internal organs were in good condition except for his lungs which had collapsed and were full of blood. He concluded that Martin vomited while in a SEMI-CONSCIOUS state and inhaled the vomit whose acid ‘burnt the lungs’ resulting in heavy bleeding.

He also concluded the semi-conscious state was due to extreme alcohol ingestion. He, therefore, explained the cause of death as ‘HYPOXIA DUE TO ASPIRATION OF STOMACH CONTENTS, AFTER ALCOHOL INTOXICATION’. The doctor came out and when he explained the cause of death to us and gave us, the friends and family members present, an opportunity for questions.

At one point I asked him whether the SEMI-CONSCIOUS state could have been caused by any other factor e.g... trauma to the head, he could not rule it out and it was only then he asked us whether he should go back and examine his head to which we agreed. He had apparently written on his report that Martin’s head was “normal”.

On dissecting Martin’s head, he saw two violent traumas to the head, one on the forehead and another on the top of his head. While describing the location of the wounds, he ruled out falling as the cause of the two traumas and mentioned the trauma at the top of his head as more violent than the one on his forehead.

His brain was full of blood, but his skull was not broken. It was only then that he added to the report that the cause of death was ‘Hypoxia due to aspiration of stomach contents, after alcohol intoxication and severe head injury’. He also sent specimens from Martin’s body for toxicology tests at the Government Lab.

To this date, almost 2 months later we have never received the results of those tests. In conclusion, the doctor told us that the police would investigate the issue and Inspector Mike Arusei, who was also with us in the room, affirmed this promising us that they would leave no stone unturned in investigating the murder.

The staff at CRUCIAL maintain that Martin had been drinking since morning at 10 am and was in the company of a gentleman named “JIMMY ” an owner of a hotel named PIZZA ANNEX" who was also in the company of a LADY.

Martin was also in contact with another LADY he knew within Mwea who later joined him late in the evening, but she stayed outside the club. She did not go inside; instead, Martin opened the vehicle for her, and she stayed inside his car apparently waiting for him.

There is CCTV footage that shows the entrance of the club but none inside the club. The staff at Crucial say that at some point after they took Martin to the room, feeling unwell, they went to lock his vehicle and were surprised to find a lady inside.

They asked her to come inside the club to either stay with Martin in the room or alternatively leave as they intended to leave the vehicle locked. She got inside the club but then left the club a few minutes later and before Martin was taken to hospital. Jimmy, on the other hand, was apparently too drunk to accompany Martin to hospital.

There were statements taken from MR JIMMY who was in the company of Martin, the club’s bouncer also called JAMES, A waitress named SHARON, the lady who manages the lodgings and the lady who was in Martin’s car. None of the five mentioned any assault on Martin despite the autopsy claiming otherwise.

It’s puzzling that the staff at Crucial, claimed to have been with Martin since late morning until the very end but none of them witnessed anything suspicious. The only plausible reason is that they are withholding information crucial to this case.

Martin was only 36yrs.He has left behind a very young family, a widow and two very young kids. He was the only sibling I had and our parents are long deceased.

The DCI has long proven its professionalism and track record in its investigations and handling serious cases, some of which are high profile. The conduct of DCI Wang’uru is however contrary to that. They were in possession of Martin’s phone up until 11th January 2024.For the last two months, no information has been forthcoming from them.

All we as a family are answers to the following:

1. What happened to Martin on the night of 2nd December? Who was responsible for his death and why?

2. Why is there no mention of assault/violence in the accounts of the Crucial staff yet it was clear to the naked eye that Martin had been assaulted violently with the postmortem showing two violent traumas to his head?

3. Why didn’t the Crucial staff take Martin to hospital when he apparently complained of not feeling well, instead taking him to their rooms?

4. ON POSTMORTEM..

1• Why didn’t the medical officer originally dissect Martin’s head but was content to write that Martin’s head was in a normal condition on his final report?

2• Why was he content with the cause of death with only what he could see from Martin’s torso, if he concluded that Martin was in a semi-conscious state why did he not examine his head to rule out all possible reasons for him to be in that state?

3•In his original conclusion that Martin was in a semi-conscious state how was he able to determine that Martin had taken alcohol at all? And if he did take alcohol, how did he determine it was enough to put him in that state?

4• How does acidity from vomit result in lungs bleeding?

5• Why didn’t Kibimbi police station handle this matter and had to involve Wanguru Police Station?

Any assistance coming from you will be highly appreciated by Martin’s family and his loved ones.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.