My daughter borrowed millions to make Louis Otieno happy – father
An inquest into the death of Careen Chepchumba, a former employee of Kenya Power, who died mysteriously four years ago, started on Wednesday before a Kibera court.
Ms Chepchumba, 26, was found lying dead on her bed at Santonia Court, off Kirichwa Road in Kilimani, Nairobi, on February 14, 2012.
Her father, Mr Hosea Kili, was the first to take the witness stand where he sensationally claimed his daughter had borrowed heavily from friends and family to finance the flashy lifestyle of the former television personality Louis Otieno.
“Trouble with Careen started when Louis Otieno moved to a house next to our’s in Rose Park Apartments, Kilimani. My wife was the first to notice that Careen was having a relationship with Louis Otieno,” he said.
He narrated that he started to lose money in unclear circumstances while in his house including Sh600,000 he intended to start a project.
“I later learnt that Careen was stealing my money. When I asked her, she admitted that she stole to pay Mr Otieno’s house rent, his upkeep and pay hospital bills,” he said.
According to his testimony, Careen, a former student of University of East Africa Baraton, moved out of her parents’ house without notifying them to rent her own apartment.
He claimed his daughter incurred heavy debts to finance Mr Otieno’s lifestyle including purchasing him a state of the art Range Rover.
“I started receiving shocking information from my friends and family members that she borrowed money from them. She had also used Sh1.2 million meant for a business venture to finance Mr Otieno’s lifestyle.
In total, she had borrowed Sh3,000,000 from her father’s friends and close family members. He also claimed his daughter was found dead a day after she had revealing to the family how Mr Otieno had been blackmailing her.
“In a meeting held in my house on February 12, 2012, she was full of remorse and revealed how Mr Otieno had been extorting money from her,” he said.
After the meeting, his son drove her to her apartment.
“That was the last time I saw my daughter alive,” he said.
A postmortem report indicated she had been strangled, according to the father.
Mr Louis Otieno has since denied involvement in Ms Chepchumba’s death. He is expected to testify in the inquest.
