Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja has no confidence in DPP Noordin Haji whom she claims is under pressure from a third party not to prosecute those responsible for the death of daughter, Tecra.
In an affidavit which was initially objected to by the state on claims that it was not properly filed, Karanja said her family believes that the DPP is responding to instructions or pressure.
“As a result of such conduct on the part of the DPP, we no longer have confidence in the DPP handling this matter,” she says in the affidavit.
Tecra died on May 2 at a Nairobi hospital while undergoing treatment. Her boyfriend Omar Lali was arrested and kept in custody for but the DPP dropped the murder case against him in July and ordered an inquest.
On Tuesday after hearing both parties, senior principal magistrate Zainab Abdul ruled that the affidavit by Karanja’s family was properly filed under the e-filing system contrary to the assertion by DPP.
The magistrate in her ruling noted that family lawyers James Orengo and Professor Elisha Ongoya had provided receipts showing that the affidavit was filed under the new regulations and the same was properly served upon the prosecution.
She directed the DPP to file their responses and appear in court on October 14 for hearing.
Karanja’s remarks in the affidavit come after the DPP made a decision to withdraw the inquest proceedings from Milimani and move it to Lamu.
She wondered why the office of the DPP wants to move the inquest to Lamu even as the family preferred Nairobi.
“….It came as a shock to the family of the deceased to learn that the Director of Public Prosecutions has made another whimsical and arbitrary decision to terminate/withdraw the inquest proceedings from the chief magistrate’s court in Milimani law courts….,” Karanja said.
Through her lawyer Orengo, Karanja had questioned the DPP’s behaviour on why his office wanted to delay and withhold information presented to it by the DCI by attempting to block her affidavit.
“There is real and well-founded fear in our family that we may not travel to and from Lamu islands to attend and participate in the inquest proceedings at Lamu without significant threat to our life and safety,” Karanja says.
The DPP is said to have written a letter to Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi seeking to have the inquest withdrawn and transferred to Lamu law courts.
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The family of the deceased have strongly opposed the move, saying that the deceased having succumbed to death in a Nairobi hospital, there is no absolute need to have the inquest transferred to Lamu.
The lawyers submit that there will be no prejudice suffered by the DPP, given that all witnesses are from Nairobi.
“The incident of death occurred within the jurisdiction of this court,” the affidavit reads.
