Exclusive: Unanswered questions about Mombasa banker’s mysterious death
By Nyaboga Kiage and Farhiya HusseinWhen Mr Oscar Owino was employed by a bank in Mombasa County, he strongly believed that he was on track to changing the lives of his siblings.
Mr Owino, the last born in a family of four children, had been orphaned at a tender age. He lost his only brother years later.
After landing his new job, Mr Owino automatically became his family’s soul breadwinner and the sponsor of his sister’s education. As such, his death, on August 14, 2023, dealt his family a major blow.
“We lost a man who had already started changing our lives. He was friendly and assisted us whenever we had a problem,” his elder sister, Pheny Awuor, said.
But even as the family struggles to come to terms with their loss, many questions about the 27-year-old banker’s demise remain unanswered.
On the night he died, the deceased had attended a party a busy and popular hotel within Nyali in Mombasa County to celebrate the birthday of a colleague by the name Edwin Matengo.
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After hours of enjoying themselves, Mr Matengo and other colleagues excused themselves saying they were tired and needed to go back to their respective homes.
They left behind Mr Owino in the company of Ms Phenny Kisasati, 39, saying they would spend more time at the hotel before leaving. The two headed to Royal Apartments in Nyali where Ms Kisasati had been living.
They stayed at the apartment for some time before they were joined by another person and later left together.
“They stayed for some time before they left together. When they were leaving here they were all okay until the next day when we were informed what had transpired,” an employee of the club, who spoke in confidence, said.
Detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are yet to make public the identity of the third person who joined Ms Kisasati and Mr Owino as they enjoyed.
When Nairobi News contacted the hotel management, the supervisor said there has never been any violent incident at the facility.
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“We receive a lot of customers on a daily basis but so far I can assure you that no-one has engaged us or raised the matter with any of our team members,” the supervisor said
Investigations by Nairobi News have also revealed that Ms Kisasati frequently visited Mr Owino at his rented house in Bamburi area.
A neighbour said she had seen Ms Kisasati, who drives a Nissan Cube, at Mr Owino’s place on several occasions.
Family lawyer, Mr Eric Benjamin, said Ms Kisasati drives a car similar to the one described by the neighbour.
A scrutiny of how the matter was reported and the timeliness reveals a lot of inconsistencies.
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A report was made on the Occurrence Book (OB) at 4am, 30 minutes after the sister of the family of the deceased had been informed that he was no more.
A work ticket registered by Premier Ambulances revealed that they arrived at the scene at 1:10am and found that Mr Owino had already passed away.
The medics who had rushed to the scene also said they found his t-shirt had been ripped off but the family had been informed by a colleague of the deceased that it had been torn by the medics.
The OB further states that the body of the deceased was taken to Pandya Hospital Mortuary which is not the case as it was taken to the Coast General Hospital Morgue within Mombasa County.
Ms Kisasati had informed the police that she left the deceased enjoying drinks at the balcony of her apartment located on the fifth floor and went to sleep.
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“She informed the police that the two had attended a party at Maasai Beach Hotel where they took drinks up to late hours before retreating to their apartment where she excused herself and went to sleep, leaving the deceased at the balcony while he continued taking more drinks,” a police report which is in our possession reads in part.
In her statement to DCI officers Ms Kisasati said the deceased spent a long time at the balcony and when she went to find out what was happening she didn’t find him there.
Later, she went downstairs and found the deceased lying dead and that is when she raised the alarm and neighbors responded.
Also the police initially said Mr Owino was aged 36-years-old while his national ID card indicates that he was born in 1996.
Ms Awuor, the sister of the deceased now says all that the family wants is for the police to get to the bottom of the matter and establish what killed their kin.
She says her brother was preparing to leave the country for Australia to pursue further studies.
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