Samuel Wanjiru's death still a mystery despite inquest

The tragic death of Olympic gold medalist Samuel Kamau Wanjiru continues to stir controversy and speculation, with details from the inquest into his passing providing as many questions as answers.

Although the court ultimately declared that Wanjiru’s death was accidental, an unsettling cloud of mystery looms over the case.

Several crucial pieces of evidence recovered from his home raised more concerns than they clarified, casting doubt on the circumstances surrounding his untimely demise.

Wanjiru’s lifeless body was discovered at the base of a balcony in his Nyahururu home on May 15, 2011.

When the police arrived at Wanjiru’s Nyahururu home on the fateful night of May 15, 2011, they found his lifeless body at the base of a balcony, blood spattered across the floor.

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The scene was one of confusion and chaos, but as investigators delved deeper into the circumstances of his death, shocking revelations began to surface.

His death was initially believed to be a result of a tragic fall, but investigations into the scene began to reveal discrepancies that suggested something more sinister might have occurred.

Among the most perplexing elements of the inquest were the missing CCTV footage, the discovery of two metal bars in his bedroom, and a series of blurred photographs taken by DCI forensic experts officers from crime scene.

Surveillance cameras installed around the property had recorded footage of the evening, and this footage was expected to reveal vital information about what transpired in the hours leading up to the fall.

However, the footage that was ultimately presented in court was frustratingly incomplete.

The footage that was eventually tendered in court was incomplete, offering only a glimpse of the events, and curiously, it omitted any footage from his bedroom, the sitting room, and the balcony where his body was discovered the key areas where the most important events had unfolded were mysteriously missing.

The absence of this crucial footage became a focal point of the inquest.

The police had seized the footage from the cameras that night, but the section that could have confirmed the timeline of events was mysteriously absent.

Despite the obvious importance of this missing footage, it was not produced during the inquest.

When questioned by the court, the investigating officer could offer no reasonable explanation for its disappearance.

The questions loomed large why had such critical evidence been withheld? And what, exactly, had transpired in those missing moments? and why was it kept from the court?

Adding to the growing list of oddities was the discovery of two metal bars in Wanjiru’s bedroom.

These were presented in court as significant pieces of evidence, but their purpose was conflicting.

Some witnesses claimed they were used to inflict the injuries Wanjiru sustained at the back of his head, while others, including his lover Nduta, said they were used to break the gill door that had been locked by the window Teresia Njeri.

The police officers who testified in the inquest however none offered a satisfactory explanation on the two metal bars, and their presence in the bedroom became one of the most mysterious aspects of the case.

Adding further intrigue to the case were the blurred photographs taken by the police, which only fueled doubts about the integrity of the investigation.

In September 2019, Magistrate Francis Andayi put Sergeant Joel Kosgey on the stand and pressed him about the poor quality of the images.

The court had already reviewed the photographs, and several glaring issues were immediately apparent: the shadows were too dark, the details were unclear, and the images lacked the clarity needed to fully understand the scene.

The magistrate wanted to know why there were dark shadows on the photos and why they were not telling a story about the death.

Kosgey’s response was that the camera used was outdated and the flash had been too harsh, creating distortion in the photos.

This explanation only served to deepen the suspicions of those following the case could these poor-quality images have been intentionally taken to obscure the true nature of Wanjiru’s death?

Meanwhile, the bloodstains found in various parts of the house became a focal point of the investigation.

It was reported that there were traces of blood on the balcony, but the forensic examination later confirmed that these stains were not from a human source.

In her testimony, Wanjiru’s mother, Hanna, had insisted that there was blood in the bedroom.

However, no one else who visited the house that night, including prominent officers, saw anything resembling blood in the bedroom.

The court noted that apart from Hannah, Wanjirus mother,  no one else including former Deputy OCPD Senior Superintendent of Police Joseph Kanake who was one of the first to arrive at the scene saw the blood.

He did, however, note the presence of spots on the balcony, which were later confirmed to be something other than blood.

"Apart from Hanna, no one else mentioned any blood in the bedroom. Even her greatest supporter Mr. Kanake, who went to the house did not see any blood in the bedroom. He mentioned some spots on the balcony, but these were taken for forensic examination and it was confirmed they were not blood stains," Magistrate Wendy Micheni stated in her decision.

The magistrate noted that given the overwhelming presence of police officers on the night of Wanjiru’s death, the absence of blood in the bedroom seemed odd, especially in light of Hanna’s claims.

The situation only became more suspicious when the forensic team confirmed that the spots on the balcony were not blood stains.

Further complicating the investigation was the role of Nduta, the last person to have seen Wanjiru alive in his bedroom.

Nduta had been locked in an upstairs room by the police, and it was only after officers broke the padlock that she was freed.

While Nduta’s account of the events could have provided crucial insights into the moments leading up to Wanjiru’s death, there were few details available about her testimony.

Her evidence did not reveal whether she saw blood stains at all in the house before she was arrested.