Autopsy reveals how David Mwai died in Parklands police cell
The unresolved shooting of former Garissa County Finance executive Idriss Mukhtar is still roiling investigators and family members as pathologists revealed the cause of death of David Mwai, the main suspect.
Pathologists Sylvester Maingi, Grace Midigo and Peter Ndegwa on Monday said Mr Mwai died by hanging.
They added that detectives will establish whether it was suicide or homicide.
Mr Mwai was suspected to be the man a CCTV footage captured shooting Mr Mukhtar in Kileleshwa.
Mr Mukhtar, who is admitted at Nairobi Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, was shot in his car at the parking bay of a restaurant near the Kileleshwa mosque where he had attended 8pm prayers on August 19.
SHOT THREE TIMES
The footage shows a gunman – dressed in brown jacket, a pair of jeans and a white cap – walking into the compound, then to Mr Mukhtar’s car where he shoots him three times before leaving.
Mr Mwai was being held at Parklands Police Station, where he was found dead on August 31.
Garissa Governor Ali Korane distanced himself from the incident, saying he had no quarrel with Mr Mukhtar.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting. I had no problem whatsoever with him but unfortunately people had to link me with the incident,” Mr Korane said on Sunday during a prize giving day at Dertu Secondary School in Dadaab.
Police spokesman Charles Owino said Mr Mwai hanged himself at around noon on August 30 after leaving his cell under the guise of going to relieve himself.
Mr Owino added that Mr Mwai was with two other detainees.
GOVERNOR’S ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION
Mr Mukhtar’s family has claimed that Idriss was killed because he questioned Governor Korane’s fake academic qualifications and fought corruption in the county government.
“He questioned the academic qualifications of Governor Ali Korane. That is why some people wanted him dead,” his father, Dr Aden Mukhtar, claimed.
However, Mr Korane dismissed the allegations.
“These stories that are being peddled that the university rejected my master’s certificate are untrue. I have never presented a master’s certificate to the IEBC, and if there is any then it must have been done by someone else but not me.”
The family’s lawyer, Mr Charles Kanjama, censured how police are carrying out the investigations.
“We know there is a process that investigators must follow in the case of someone being a person of interest to a suspect, to an accused, then a convict to a prisoner,” he said.