Playboy Lali used witchcraft to seduce Tecra, court told
The brother of Keroche heiress Tecra Mungai on Thursday told a Nairobi death inquest she told him her affair with Omar Lali was not ordinary but spiritual and obsessive.
James Karanja said Omar tried to separate Tecra from her family and didn't associate with them.
Tecra's house help said the two fought frequently when they lived in Naivasha and Tecra told her that he beat her at night.
Karanja's girlfriend, Victoria Marcella, said Tecra told her she considered Omar a prophet and she considered that worrisome coming from an intelligent woman.
James Karanja, the eldest son of Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja, said that most times Tecra said “it is not a normal relationship between her and Omar as it was more of spiritual and obsessed.”
Karanja added that when he went to Lamu with his girlfriend, he met Tecra with her friend Yvonne who told him that Omar uses witchcraft to seduce women.
He was testifying in an inquest into the death of Tecra who died on May 2, 2020 at Nairobi Hospital. She had allegedly fallen down steep stairs at a house in Lamu.
He first met Omar in Tanzania on August 30, 2019, when he had gone for a birthday party in Dar es Saalam.
He was shocked because he knew Tecra’s past boyfriends, but the relationship with Lali struck him as unusual. There was something unconventional.
Lali was more than 30 years older. His lifestyle too was far removed from what he had known of Tecra's previous liaisons.
“At the birthday party, he shocked me as he did not want to sit with the family. He was distant from us,” the court was told.
"We met again on November 8, 2019. I had gone to visit her as she was staying in Lamu. I went with my girlfriend. On the second day, Tecra came to where I was staying, in a hotel, and she happened to come with her friend Yvonne. Yvonne was familiar with Omar because they were both from Lamu," he said.
When Tecra stepped out, he had a quick chat with Yvonne. She told him she knew Lali very well because both lived in Lamu.
“She advised that Tecra should leave him, ” the court was told.
Image: ENOS TECHE
Yvonne said Omar was not good to women and friends.
"We tried convince her to leave the relationship and come back to Nairobi. But every time we mentioned her leaving Omar, she was very defensive," her brother said.
"We decided to let her be since it was something we didn't know. We left her in Lamu," he said
"On April 23 2020, I called my mother and she said she would call back. She later called saying Tecra had fallen in her hotel.
"I did not know it was serious. When she was admitted, I went to Nairobi Hospital and that's when I knew it was critical. I went to see her on April 28 and still found she was in a coma and could not talk," Karanja said.
He said when he was with Omar, she was very protective of him. She had changed her lifestyle.
“My sister changed a lot and became distant from the family. He tried to keep her away from us. She could be aggressive and shout loudly," Karanja said.
Tecra’s house help Anne Waithera told the court how Tecra refused to let her mother and family members enter the house after they travelled to see her in Naivasha.
She said after Tecra sent a photo of Omar to her mother, she told Waithera her mother was not happy and decided to visit her.
“There was a day she said she was stressed. She had sent a photo to her mum to introduce him to her mother. She said mum was not happy and was against their relationship. Mum visited with the family but Tecra could not let her in,” Waithera said.
She said when Omar heard that Tabitha had visited Tecra, he disappeared to the bushes near the lake to avoid being seen. Omar came back in the evening without a phone. He had thrown it in the river thinking he would be traced, she surmised.
Later Tecra met her family in Naivasha but the next day Waithera was told not to report to work. She said she had traveled to Lamu by bus with Omar.
Tecra called her back, however, and asked her to travel to Lamu with her driver Erick Cheruiyot.
"We had planned to travel with the driver and slept in a hotel in Malindi. The hotel had been organised by Omar.
"They went to Lamu in a boat and Omar's brothers had come for us," Waithera said.
"We went to Kijani hotel where Omar and Tecra were. Omar was not happy that we were there and planned for our departure back. We traveled back with Cheruiyot," she said.
When they travelled back to Naivasha, Omar's family started coming to visit him. The first time his sisters and daughter came and Tecra paid their expenses.
“Omar's ex also visited with the child. Tecra would leave to Nairobi. She was not happy since Omar was using her money to take care of a white woman. He never showed any care or affection to her," Waithera said.
The ex was given more attention than Tecra, she said.
In her testimony, Waithera said she started working for Tecra in August 2019 in Naivasha.
She said she was working in a hotel in Naivasha when Tecra came as a customer and they became friends.
She told me she had come back from Italy and was looking for a house and house help.
"She said she will pay me 25,000 per month. I agreed and on August 21, 2019, she called me and said she has a house and needed a house girl. I went with two more girls to clean the house. Next day I continued with my work as a house help."
She added she found Tecra with a man who said she would know him better in time.
Tecra said it was her boyfriend Omar whom she had met in Lamu.
“Surprisingly, end month I was paid Sh22,000 and when I asked her why, she said Omar had said Sh25,000 was too much and she should be paid Sh22,000. I agreed,” Waithera said.
"Many times, when I reported to work in the morning, I would see Tecra crying and when I asked, she would say Omar had beaten her at night.
"When I cleaned the house in the morning, I realised they had slept in different beds and wine was splashed in the house. They used to fight at night. There were quarrels."
Once Tecra had a fight with Omar and she asked him to leave but he refused. Omar used to threaten Tecra if she left him, Waithera said.
On February 20, 2020, Tecra sent Waithera a text saying she had travelled to Lamu but said she would be back.
Victoria Marcela, James Karanja's girlfriend, testified that she met Omar in Tanzania but they did not interact much.
“Omar was not interested in associating with any of us. I found it very strange. When we were moving venues, I asked him what he was doing with Tecra since he was very old for her but he did not respond. He showed a 'don't care' attitude”, Marsela told court.
She didn't speak to him again.
“I asked Tecra what was her relationship with Omar and she said it was spiritual and saw him as a prophet. I found it very strange and became very worried," Marcela said.
She said Tecra was very smart and intelligent, so talk of a prophet troubled her.
The lawyer representing the Keroche family, Elijah Ogoya, told court that six witnesses who carried Tecra from the hotel to the hospital refused to board a van sent by the DPP to testify in the inquest.
The six include Qusai Lali Omar, Ali Bakari Muhammed, Abdul Lali Omar, Yaya Salim Muhammed, Ahemed Ali Sali and Mohammed Omar Muhanji.
He asked the court to summon them to appear for the next hearing date.
“Omar Lali should also be summoned with the six witnesses to attend the proceedings since there was prima facie material as he is a person of interest in the inquest. The summons notified him three days before the inquest. His name has featured frequently," Ogoya said.
Milimani principal magistrate Zainab Abdul issued summons to the six witnesses and Omar Lali to appear in court for the next hearing.
She directed the DCI to facilitate the summonses.
“I summon six witnesses in this inquest to appear in court and also summon Omar Lali to attend court either in person or through an advocate. He might be a witness in the inquest. He will testify after the 44 witnesses testify," the magistrate ruled.
So far 11 of 44 witnesses have testified in the inquest.
It continues on May 4. BY THE STAR
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