Wahome Thuku has sharply criticised how Beatrice Wangari was handled after the death of Dr. Job Obwaka, saying the decision to keep her in a police cell for days before investigations were complete simply didn’t make sense.
According to Thuku, the situation itself was straightforward. An elderly man, aged 83, had left his car at a mall in Kitengela. Wangari, who lived nearby, offered him a lift to her place. They spent the evening together, and sadly, he later died in her bed.
What followed is what has raised eyebrows.
Wangari was arrested and remained in custody for twelve days as police carried out investigations. For Thuku, that move was unnecessary and unfair from the start.
His point is direct: why lock someone up before you even establish if they’ve done anything wrong?
In his view, that approach turns the justice process upside down. Investigations are supposed to come first — collecting evidence, talking to witnesses, and understanding exactly what happened. Arrests should only happen when there is something solid to justify them, not before.
He argues that detaining someone first and asking questions later creates the impression that the system is working on assumptions rather than facts.
Thuku also raised a bigger concern about how common this practice has become. Many Kenyans have grown used to seeing suspects held for days while investigations are still ongoing. But that doesn’t make it right.
In other parts of the world, he notes, such treatment would raise serious legal questions. Holding someone without clear grounds, especially before establishing any wrongdoing, would likely be challenged as a violation of basic rights.
What makes the situation even more troubling is how it ended.
The postmortem later showed that Dr. Obwaka died from cardiac arrest linked to an underlying heart condition. In simple terms, there was no crime tied to Wangari.
Yet she had already spent nearly two weeks behind bars.
For Thuku, that outcome says a lot about the system — and why it needs to be questioned more often.
bextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v