Inquest told Tecra death not normal

A medical doctor yesterday revealed that the injuries suffered by Keroche heiress Tecra Muigai were not as a result of a normal fall from a staircase.

Dr Barack Mohammed Mubarak who attended to Tecra at the Lamu Hospital, told Milimani Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul that from a report prepared by the hospital radiologist, the deceased had suffered an injury  on the temporal lobe, a part of the brain largely responsible for creating and preserving both conscious and long-term memory.

Testifying in the inquest into Tecra’s death, the doctor said he saw the radiologist’s report on April 23, 2020 and realised that the patient’s condition was serious.

“The patient was not in a position to give her history. She was alert but not able to communicate,” said Dr Mubarak. 

He told the court that Tecra had her left temporal bone fractured. 

“There was a cut on her head which was not normal,” he said, suggesting that it was most likely inflicted by an object with an external force.

“From the initial assessment, it did not appear like it was a normal fall on the stairs. If it was a normal fall there would be bruises but there was none at all,” he told the inquest.

He said the late Tecra was in her clothes which had blood stains on the shoulder. She was also bleeding from the ear, he added.

“The brain was swollen which causes internal bleeding. This showed that it was a serious issue which required surgery,” the court was told.

The doctor said the impact of the fall was heavy according to his assessment.

On cross examination, lawyer Abubakar Yusuf representing Omar Lali questioned if the doctor obtained Tecra’s medical history.

Dr Mubarak however said the late Tecra was alert and had blood stains on her clothes. She also smelt of alcohol, he said.

 “The ear was with cotton wool. I removed it and there was active bleeding. There was no external clinical findings that indicated severe head injuries,” he said.

He added that Tecra had severe alcohol intoxication and that she also had a deep cut on the ear.

Drunk report

Lali, the doctor said, had told clinical officers that they were both drunk. 

Following Tecra’s death, Lali was arrested after a Lamu court allowed detectives to detain him for. Tecra, who was the daughter of Joseph Karanja (Chairman, Keroche Breweries) and Mrs Tabitha Karanja (CEO, Keroche Breweries), was buried in Naivasha in a private family ceremony.