'Jeff Mwathi’s body to be exhumed in murder probe,' IG Koome says

Police have found gaps that need to be bridged hence need to exhume the body

Piece by: CYRUS OMBATI
Crime

• DCI said they believe Jeff was murdered before his body was thrown out.

• IG noted Jeff was buried long ago in Nyandarua and hence need to seek an order to exhume the body.

Jeff Mwathi.
Image: Courtesy

Detectives plan to exhume the body of interior designer Geoffrey Jeff Mwathi’s body as part of ongoing probe into his death.

Inspector General of police Japhet Koome on Sunday said they have found gaps in the incident and hence need to exhume the body to help their probe.

He said police are doing thorough investigations to ensure justice in the case.

“We will have that body exhumed look at dimensions on where he is said to have passed at the window to drop to the ground floor. We are moving to court to seek an order for the exhumation,” Koome said.

IG noted Jeff was buried long ago in Nyandarua and hence need to seek an order to exhume the body.

Koome spoke at his office in Nairobi and warned anyone found culpable for the murder will face the full force of the law.

“Anyone found culpable will be held accountable,” he said.

This comes after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said they believe Jeff was murdered before his body was thrown out.

Homicide detectives handling the case from their probe, the 23-year-old interior designer was murdered and did not jump to his death as earlier reported.

It was initially reported he died by suicide in the February 22 incident.

After the team visited the scene for reconstruction and forensic analysis they found out signs of a struggle inside Mugithi musician Lawrence Njuguna alias DJ Fatxo’s house.

Some music equipment was broken in the house out of the struggle, the officers say.

The detectives pointed out that there was a possibility of a fight before Jeff was dragged outside and thrown off from the rooftop or from the stairs of the 12-storey apartment.

The investigators, in ruling out suicide, believe that Jeff was murdered before he was thrown off to cover up and make it look like suicide.

Initially, it was recorded that Jeff jumped off from the window of the bedroom, but that was ruled out as it is impossible for an adult to fit into the tight window frames of the window.

Homicide detectives said the process included interviewing the first cluster of witnesses in the case, forensic examination of the scene and retrieval of CCTV footages that captured the deceased's last moments.

Detectives said they are now progressing to the second phase of the investigations where several persons of interest will be interrogated and appropriate recommendations made to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

The sleuths said that the persons of interest to be interrogated in the next phase will include all the five persons who were at DJ Fatxo’s house when the incident happened.

Also to be questioned, according to DCI, are police officers who handled the case first.

The DCI homicide detectives took over the case from Kasarani Police Station last week following orders from Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki.

Fatxo, who termed Jeff as his good friend, has since denied involvement in his death and said he will cooperate with investigators.

He told the Media on March 12 that he was the one who reported to the police about Jeff's disappearance on the morning he died.

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