A second post-mortem on Chuka University student Maureen Wanjiku Mwihaki has revealed she was strangled.
The student died after attending a graduation party in Murang’a.
The post-mortem, which was done after the defence counsel launched an application in court, was conducted on Thursday by a private and government pathologist in the presence of her family and defence counsels.
The lawyers Margret Kimani and Mwaniki Wa Rima representing Allan Muchangi and Brenda Wanjiru respectively, urged the court to issue orders to preserve the body until a second autopsy is conducted. The first one was done on August 15.
Two suspects Joseph Weru Wairimu and Maureen Wambui were not represented.
The post-mortem has been redone a day after the investigating officer told the court that they had completed investigations.
They also revealed their intention to charge the four colleagues of the victim and the doctor who allegedly treated her, with murder charges.
Ms Keya OMbele, a representative of the Director of Public Prosecutions told the court that the four students are fit to stand trial after undergoing a mental assessment.
“A mental test has been conducted and we have established that the four are fit to stand murder trial. We therefore seek for a date to produce the fifth suspect so that they can be charged together,” she said.
Resident Magistrate Sheila Nyaga ordered that all the five suspects be taken to court on September 3. Four of the suspects are being detained at Murang’a GK Prison.
The magistrate ordered that Ms Mwihaki’s body be preserved at the Murang’a mortuary until a second post-mortem is conducted.
The doctor, who was previously attached to the Bliss Hospital, is in custody and is also facing another charge of lying to the detectives that he had treated the student at the medical facility.
Nation has established that the doctor has been suspended by Bliss Hospital.
The suspects claimed that Ms Mwihaki had complained of the stomach complications only for the autopsy report to reveal that she died of strangulation.
Ms Mwihaki’s family said following the second autopsy report, they will resume burial plans.
“We have set the date for the burial ceremony two times and have postponed, we shall now wait until September 3 so that the court can allow us to proceed with the burial preparations where we have tentatively set September 10 as the date for the burial ceremony,” the family spokesperson David Njoroge Maina told the Nation.
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