Dentist stabbed her husband to death, court told
Nisha Sapra, a dentist, during her arrest at a Nairobi City court in January 17, 2008.
A brother to a slain businessman on Thursday told a magistrate that he was stabbed by his wife, a medical doctor, after a disagreement during a family party 19 years ago.
Testifying before a Milimani Chief Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi, Mr Kuldip Sapra said his brother Yogesh Mogan Madan Sapra confessed to him from the hospital bed at the Nairobi Hospital in August 2005 that he was stabbed by his wife, Dr Nisha Sapra, a dentist.
“When I visited my late brother-Yogesh- at the Nairobi Hospital, he confided in me that he was stabbed by his wife while at their bedroom after a disagreement during a family party,” Kuldip told Mr Ekhubi who is trying Dr Sapra for manslaughter.
Kuldip recounted how his late brother, both directors of their family business at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), was injured by his wife, then rushed to hospital.
He said the stab raptured his intestines which later were infected.
“Doctors at the Nairobi Hospital told me the stab also raptured the diaphragm and the intestines. They were later infected by germs leading to his death,” Kuldip remembered.
He further testified that a son of the deceased told him that their mother (Nisha Sapra) is the one who stabbed their father in their bedroom at the Lower Kabete city residence on the night of August 21/22, 2005.
Kuldip was testifying in the case where his sister-in-law (Dr Sapra) is charged with unlawfully killing her husband, Yogesh.
He recounted how his brother was subjected to six surgeries but did not make it- he succumbed to the injuries inflicted with a kitchen knife.
He said before the body was released to the family for interment, he was called by the Officer Commanding Station, Spring Valley, who told him to stop the burial to enable police confirm that a postmortem had been carried out on the body.
He said although he has never seen the postmortem report he knows without fear of contradiction that his later brother died from the injuries inflicted on him by his wife.
Referring to a letter written by one of the surgeons who were attending to his brother, Kuldip said “the doctor was regretting that they mismanaged the treatment of the patient (yogesh).”
The witness said Dr Sapra was arrested during the cremation of his brother’s body at the Hindu Crematorium in Kariokor Nairobi on September 8, 2005.
Dr Sapra has denied murdering her husband. She is out on bond.
She is charged with manslaughter contrary to section 202 of the Penal Code (Chapter 63 of the Laws of Kenya) in Nairobi Criminal Case No. 528 of 2008.
The particulars of the charge are that on the night of August 20 and 21, 2005 at Lower Kabete in Nairobi, she unlawfully killed Yogesh Madan Mohan Sapra.
She was arrested on September 11, 2005 during the cremation of Yogesh at the Hindu Crematorium grounds at Kariokor, Nairobi.
She was detained at Spring Valley Police Station and thereafter transferred to Gigiri Police Station
The attorney-general ordered an inquest to establish the cause of death.
It was recommended by a former magistrate Timothy Okello that she be charged with murder of her husband at the conclusion of the inquest.
Kuldip told Mr Ekhubi that the charge was later reduced to manslaughter.
Cross-examined by Senior Counsel (SC) Kioko Kilukumu for Dr Sapra on the cause of death, Kuldip answered that it was caused by an infection at the injury occasioned by the stab inflicted on him by his wife.
However, Mr Kilukumi presented a letter from one the many doctors who attended saying an infection caused the death.
Mr Kilukumi said the doctor attributed the death to mismanagement of the patient.
The SC also disclosed that the marriage between Yogesh and Sapra was rocked with violence and that at one time, the deceased stabbed the accused with a pen-knife.
Mr Kilukumi said domestic workers of the two testified in court that the couple used to fight quite often.
“All that I know is that my brother’s death was occasioned by the stab inflicted by his wife,” Kuldip told the magistrate as he concluded his evidence.
Hearing continues November 1,2024.
