Former television presenter Louis Otieno extorted money from Careen Chepchumba, the former Kenya Power employee who died four years ago in unclear circumstances. The family believes Louis Otieno, who was dating the then 26-year-old lady, had something to do with her mysterious death.
Careen father, Hosea Kili, made the sensational revelations at the opening of the inquest into the death of Ms Chepchumba yesterday before a Kibera court.
“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,” Mr Kili said. “We agreed to assist her pay her debts and she tearfully requested to come back home since she could not afford to pay her house rent for the apartment.”
Ms Chepchumba was found lying dead on her bed at Santonia Court, off Kirichwa Road in Kilimani, Nairobi, on February 14, 2012.
Mr Kili, the first to take the witness stand, claimed that his daughter had borrowed heavily from friends and family to finance the flashy lifestyle of Mr Otieno, who had worked for mainstream TV stations before quitting to lead a quite life.
“Trouble with Careen started when Louis Otieno moved to a house next to ours in Rose Park Apartments, Kilimani. My wife was the first to notice that Careen was having a relationship with Louis Otieno.”
He narrated that he started to lose money in unclear circumstances in his house including Ksh600,000 for a planned project but later learnt that Careen was stealing the cash. “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 Range Rover. “I started receiving shocking information from my friends and family members that she borrowed money from them. She had also used Ksh1.2 million meant for a business venture to finance Mr Otieno’s lifestyle.
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In total, she had borrowed Ksh3,000,000 from her father’s friends and close family members. He also claimed that his daughter was found dead a day after she had revealed to the family how Mr Otieno had been blackmailing her.
He added: “During the meeting, her phone kept on ringing but she would press the stop button. At one point her mother snatched it from her and realised it was Mr Otieno who was calling her.”
After the meeting, his son drove him to her apartment. “That was the last time I saw my daughter Careen alive,” he said. A postmortem report indicated that 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.
“I was not extorting from her. I bought her a Volkswagen and I paid it in cash,” Louis Otieno in 2012 while defending himself over accusations that he had been living off her late girlfriend’s money. Louis has since kept a low profile. The last time he was heard of was in September 2014 when he was hospitalised at Mater Hospital.
The inquest has delayed for four years because key witnesses, including the woman’s parents, had in the past not availed themselves in court.
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