Omar Lali breaks silence on what happened the night of Tecra Karanja’s accident

Omar Lali, the Lamu-based boyfriend to the late Tecra Muigai Karanja, has finally broken silence on the night his lover had an accident that led to her death on Saturday afternoon.

Omar spoke to the Standard from a police station in Lamu where he is being detained pending investigations on the exact circumstances that led to Tecra’s death.

The the 51-year old Lamu tour guide said he remembers he and his girlfriend woke up late on Tuesday afternoon, took lunch, after which Tecra went for a yoga session while Omar spent the afternoon with his youngest daughter.

The two reconnected before the 7pm curfew with Omar recalling that Tecra was in a party mood.

“I ordered five litres of madafu and she ordered three bottles of vodka. We had litres of passion juice as well,” he said adding that some of the hotel staff thought they were hosting a party.

After several hours of drinking, the father of five daughters said he fell off to sleep on a couch in the villa where he and Tecra had been staying.

Early on Wednesday morning, he said he was awakened by a loud thud followed by a scream.

“I looked towards where Tecra was sleeping and she wasn’t there. I looked towards the staircase and saw her at the bottom of the stairs. I rushed and tried basic first aid,” he recalls.

At this point, Tecra was still talking and complained of a lot of pain in her head and limbs prompting him to call his brother with whom they took his girlfriend to a nearby dispensary.

The dispensary did not have the equipment to do a CT scan that would establish the extent of Tecra’s injuries.

Omar had her transferred via a speed boat to King Fahd County Referral Hospital where she had her results - ten hours later.

Fearing for his girlfriend’s situation, he decided to call her mother – Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja who organized for an Amref helicopter to airlift Tecra to Nairobi.

Omar stayed with her until she was admitted at Nairobi Hospital after which he stayed at the Karanja family home.

On Saturday, he was put on a police car and driven to Lamu where upon arrival he learnt that his lover was no more. On Sunday, he was picked up by police and taken to a nearby police stationw where he has been staying.

On Tuesday, the DCI obtained a local court's permission to detain Omar for 21 extra days even as he and his family protested that he was being coerced to admit a part in Tecra’s death.

“They told my brother to tell me to confess to punching her and that once I admit this as a formality they will help me get out of jail,” he complained