New book raises more questions on the death of Olympics star
Sports News 03:52
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| Samuel Kamau Wanjiru with his wife Teresia Njeri during happier times. |
In an exclusive interview about a new book marking the first
anniversary of the star’s death, Frits Conijn makes a series of
extraordinary claims regarding the mysterious death of the runner in his
home on the night of May 15, last year.
“The evidence concerning his death is not conclusive. But I can smell a rat,” says Conijn, who has co-authored Death Runner, the tragic end of Olympic marathon champion with Simon Maziku.
“The technical evidence is very strange — blood in
the bedroom, maybe he cut himself shaving — but the contradictions in
the testimonies are even stranger.”
Conijn raises numerous questions regarding the statements made
at the time by his widow Terezah Njeri, with whom they had well
publicis
In emailed responses to the Saturday Nation, Conijn is
scathing of the police investigation and their failure to extract more
information from Terezah, Nduta and the watchman who must have seen more
than he said.
He castigates the police for failing to protect the
crime scene that was visited by numerous people allowed into the
compound on the ill-fated night, saying this was a deliberate move to
cover up evidence.
ed run-ins before and, apparently, on the night he died.
The athlete died on the day he returned to
Nyahururu from a training camp in Eldoret at the request of his wife,
who said she was ill and in need of medical treatment.
After arriving at 9pm to find no one home, the
runner drove into town and set on a drinking spree before returning home
for the last time.
It is clear that he returned home later that night
with a female companion, Margaret Nduta, and that Terezah found them and
stormed out in a huff but no one knows yet what precisely happened next
as to lead to the runner’s death.
After a year’s review of the evidence and interviews with
witnesses and acquaintances of the family, the author lists numerous
contradictions that have yet to be answered:
- How come Terezah, Nduta and the watchman were never thoroughly interrogated?
- One time Terezah says she discovered Sammy and Nduta in the living room, next time it is the bedroom. Which is the truth?
- Terezah says she only knew the next day her husband died. But two witnesses (independent from each other) told the author that they found her at the police station 20 minutes after Wanjiru’s death.
- How come Terezah was not aware of the fall of her husband? She could not have been far and round that time of the night it is very quiet.
- Terezah is not very clear on the reason why she wanted Sammy to come back to Nyahururu. First she says it was about dowry payment, then to ‘take her to hospital’, and lastly she wanted them to discuss about an investment in a transport firm.
- Terezah is not very clear on when she came back from Nairobi. And why would she come to hospital in Nyahururu when there are better facilities in Nairobi where she was?
- Where did the blood in the bedroom come from? Whose was it and did detectives carry out any tests?
- Why did the police do such shoddy investigation?
- How come the watchman knows nothing? He claims he knew of the events when he saw Wanjiru under the balcony. Strange, if the story of Terezah is true, there was a lot of shouting before.
- How come the watchman did not see Nduta in the car when Sammy wanted to enter the compound? The star stopped at the gate and asked him if Terezah was home.
- Why was Terezah insisting on the funeral? Why not wait till the investigation was finished and the results were published then she would have been off the hook for good?
- Why are the authorities not cooperating with Sammy’s mother, Hannah, push for more investigation?
The author claims the plot to kill the athlete
could have been hatched five months earlier when police found foreign
currency equivalent to Sh33 million in his house during a swoop for an
alleged illegal pistol.
“On December 31, 2010, police stormed Wanjiru’s
house and allegedly found an AK-47 rifle and also took away a small
portable safe where they believed a pistol was after Wanjiru declined to
open it.
“According to three witnesses (independent from
each other) there was Sh33 million ($390,842 by today’s exchange rate).
So maybe the police wanted to cover this up, now Wanjiru can never
claim the money again.”
Prior to this Wanjiru would buy friends and
strangers drinks at local pubs and then proceed to engage in rowdy
behaviour, fighting and breaking glasses in pubs which he would later
pay with a handsome ‘tip’ for the waiters.
Police officers called to the pub would quickly withdraw after receiving instructions from their seniors not to ‘touch’ Wanjiru.
On December 31, 2010, Wanjiru came home drunk and a
quarrel erupted with his wife. Terezah fled as Wanjiru went to collect a
gun to “teach her a lesson”.
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