Jeff Mwathi fell from 10th floor but how he exited window remains mystery, court told

Jeff Mwathi fell from 10th floor but how he exited window remains mystery, court told.[Courtesy]

A crime scene officer has told an inquest that investigators could not establish whether interior designer Jeff Mwathi was pushed, jumped or forced through a 10th-floor window at DJ Fatxo’s apartment. 

Chief Inspector Francis Kieti told Milimani Principal Magistrate Teresia Nyangena yesterday that while his reconstruction established that Mwathi exited through a window at Redwood Apartments in Roysambu, the circumstances preceding his fall remained unclear.

“I cannot tell whether he was pushed, jumped, or was otherwise forced out of the building, but indeed the deceased left through the window at the 10th floor,” Kieti said.

Mwathi, whose real name was Geoffrey Mwathi Ngugi and a nephew of Mugithi singer Samidoh, died on February 22, 2023, after falling from the apartment where Mugithi musician Lawrence Njuguna, popularly known as DJ Fatxo, lived.

Kieti said he visited the apartment on March 10, nearly three weeks after Mwathi’s death, to reconstruct the scene.

By then, the apartment had been released and was being used by DJ Fatxo and his family.

“Remember I went to that scene almost three weeks after the incident. So the house in question was already used by DJ Fatxo when I arrived, Your Honour,” he said.

Under cross-examination by lawyer Danstan Omari, Kieti admitted the photographs he took could not necessarily represent the original scene.

“Indeed, these photos may not depict how the initial crime scene was,” he said.

He also confirmed that the apartment had not been cordoned off when he arrived and that the scene had already been released to its occupants DJ Fatxo before investigations were complete.

Asked whether the scene had been interfered with, Kieti replied: “That is correct.”

A collage of the late Jeff Mwathi and DJ Fatxo.[File, Standard]

The officer said he relied on photographs taken by officers who first attended the scene and interviews with first responder officers.

“I interviewed the police officers who first responded to the scene as well as my colleague from the crime scene investigation unit, Kasarani,” he said.

Kieti also revealed that the window through which Mwathi allegedly fell had never been dusted for fingerprints, exposing a major forensic gap in investigations into Mwathi's death.

“No, it wasn't dusted. Indeed, as to my knowledge since then to date,” he said.

The court was also taken through several photographs of the window, which Kieti said was the presumed exit point.

According to Kieti, the entire window measured about four feet, 10 inches square and was fitted with grills.

Kieti said one opening, measuring about one foot four inches, was too small for an adult to pass through.

However, two larger openings marked C and K measured one foot by 7.5 inches and, according to Kieti, could allow an adult to pass through.

“It is possible, yes,” he said when asked whether an adult could pass through either opening.

Asked under what circumstances, he replied: “Either forcefully or maybe if that person is not in his right state of mind.”

Kieti said squeezing through the opening could result in abrasions from the window frame.

The officer said investigators recovered debris, including what appeared to be red matter and blood stains, from the area where Mwathi allegedly landed and from the roof of the ground floor.

However, he said the reconstruction was based on circumstantial evidence and could not establish how Mwathi landed or whether he had been pushed.

Asked whether the reconstruction established whether Mwathi fell, was pushed, or was otherwise manipulated before exiting the window, Kieti said: “That is correct.”

“What we can deduce is that he went through that window,” he added. Neither could his photographs establish how Mwathi landed on the ground.

“Yes, from my photos we cannot be able to tell that,” he said.

He also said Mwathi’s body was already badly decomposed when accessed after exhumation.

“At the time we accessed the body after the exhumation, it was already at an advanced state of decomposition,” Kieti said.

“So what we could clearly see were the major bruises, because the skin had already started peeling off.”

At the end of his testimony, Kieti was asked whether his reconstruction had provided a clearer picture of what happened to Mwathi.

“No,” he said.

He agreed that the circumstances preceding Mwathi's exit from the 10th-floor window could not be clearly established through the reconstruction.

The inquest hearing continues today, with the investigating officer expected to testify