By Naomi Njung’e
A Mombasa court has officially closed an inquest into the mysterious death of British national Harry Roy Veevers, ending an 11-year legal process that failed to determine the cause of death.
Delivering his ruling, Senior Resident Magistrate David O. Odhiambo said the court could not establish how Veevers died due to conflicting forensic reports and the advanced decomposition of his body.
“Due to the level of decomposition and the conflicting reports by pathologists, the government chemist and other experts, the cause of death remains unknown, and as such nobody can be called to answer to any charge,” ruled Hon. Odhiambo.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Veevers, who lived in Mombasa, was buried in a Muslim cemetery within days of his death, without a post-mortem or police involvement.
“The swift burial angered his sons, who accused long-time partner, Azra Parvin Din and her daughters of rushing the process to conceal the cause of death. They alleged that their father may have been poisoned for financial gain and successfully petitioned for his exhumation later in 2013,” stated the ODPP.
Over the years, the inquest passed through the hands of several magistrates and heard testimony from sixteen witnesses, including family members, investigators and forensic experts from Kenya and the UK.
Some forensic tests detected traces of cyhalothrin, a pesticide, while others found none. Experts warned that decomposition and possible contamination compromised the reliability of the results.
The court also noted procedural lapses, including poor evidence chain-of-custody documentation.
Hon. Odhiambo ordered that Veevers’ remains, which had been stored at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary for eleven years, six months, one week and five days, be released to the family for reburial at a site of their choice, subject to payment of mortuary fees.
The magistrate commended the patience of the family, the efforts of judicial officers, prosecutors and investigators acknowledged the role of the media in covering the case.
“However, he stressed that without conclusive proof, the law could not assign blame. The inquest will only be reopened if new evidence emerges,” the court stated.