Jeff Mwathi Contemplated Taking Own Life, Lamented About Discrimination At Home, Inquest Told

• An inquest into the death of Jeff Mwathi started and fresh details suggest the young man might have taken his life
• Mwathi died mysteriously in February this year after falling off a ten-floor apartment in Nairobi's Kasarani area, the death sending the country into a kind of frenzy
• Lawyer Duncan Okatch, who represents musician DJ Fatxo, in whose house Mwathi spent his last moments, said Mwathi had been bitter and had contemplated ending his life

Nairobi - It now emerges that Jeff Mwathi was suicidal and was not a happy man in his last days.

A public inquest that started on Thursday, August 10, was told that the now-deceased had lamented about discrimination in his family.

Inquest into Jeff Mwathi's death

He was not happy that his mother did not send him to college after completing his secondary school education.

This is as per Duncan Okatch, the attorney representing DJ Fatxo in whose house Mwathi died.

Okatch implied that Mwathi was bitter and would take alcohol and threaten to stab himself with a dagger.

The court heard that Mwathi's parents separated when he was five years.

Stephen Muchoki, the late Mwathi's uncle, is among the witnesses lined up to testify before the court.

In a cross-examination by Okatch, Muchoki said he was not in the know whether Mwathi considered taking his own life in the face of the challenges he faced.

He said he was informed Mwathi was missing on February 22 before getting information later that he had been found dead.

Muchoki further told the court that he travelled from Nakuru to Nairobi and went to City Mortuary where he positively identified him.

Asked whether the window through which his nephew fell was spacious, Muchoki said one would go through it if pushed.

He said Mwathi was in the company of DJ Fatxo and three other ladies in his last moments, and the same could be confirmed by the CCTV which captured their movements.

Appearing for the bereaved family is lawyer Danstan Omari.

The inquest presided over by Milimani principal magistrate Zainab Abdul was an afterthought after investigators absolved Fatxo and the others of any wrongdoing.

It will resume on November 1 with Mwathi's mother Ann Wacuka who is currently in Qatar, being the one taking the stand.

DCI absolves DJ Fatxo

Basing their findings on the double postmortems on Mwathi's body, the detectives ruled out any foul play, suggesting the death was a result of a fall.

Whilst it was earlier asserted that the 23-year-old was murdered, the investigations by DCI suggested he took his own life.

The detectives in April announced concluding their probe into the death and forwarded the file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

Borne in the inconclusive file were the details of the events that preceded Mwathi's tragic end on February 22.

As things were, he may not have been murdered after all, a report from the DCI implied.

The findings pointed to a possibility of the buddy interior decorator fatally harming himself, just like the findings of the initial investigations conducted by the officers at Kasarani Police Station had suggested.

As per the detectives, after weeks of reconstructing the scene and running a forensic probe, Mwathi was not killed.

The suspects, including Fatxo, who were summoned to record their statements, could not be pointed to as the perpetrators of the supposed murder.