Police focus on murdered USIU lecturer’s marital woes in probe

Detectives investigating the murder of Prof Zachary Mumbo Mosoti have placed a high premium on his marital woes as they search for clues on who killed the United States International University (USIU - Africa) lecturer without leaving a trace. 

Prof Mosoti was found dead on the morning of December 11 in a bedsitter apartment he had rented just three kilometres away from the houses he had constructed for his two wives within the same compound in Kamulu, Nairobi. A post-mortem report this week revealed that he was strangled to death.

His first wife Gladys no longer lives in the house he constructed for her. She fell out with her husband four years ago when Peris Ondara was introduced as the second wife. The professor insisted on living with the two wives in the same compound.

Pleas from his family to sort out the marital mess he was getting himself into fell on deaf ears. His brother, Obed Mosoti, who was present when the professor and Gladys went separate ways, told Nation that the separation was supposed to be temporary.

“We talked, she was supposed to move out for a while and come back. However on our way out we met the new woman and my brother gave her a lift. He introduced her to us and immediately I noticed that something was wrong,” said Obed.

“I called him later and told him if that is the case I will not be party to that. That is my stand and even the second wife knows. I have never talked to her and I won’t,” he said.

With Gladys out of the way Prof Mosoti, who had initially invited Peris to live in the bungalow he was living with his first wife, constructed a mansion for his second wife within the same compound. 

The professor never bothered to consult his family, who were against his new marriage, about construction of the second house. 

By the time of completion of the new house last year, which is a huge upgrade to the one the professor’s first wife was living, the USIU lecturer’s second marriage was also crumbling.

Lost control of his household

Prof Mosoti tripped and fell while in a supermarket in 2004, while he was studying at the University of Minnesota in the United States.

Unknown to him he dislocated his hips and after living in pain for almost a decade visiting several hospitals including some in Nairobi, he underwent a hip replacement surgery in 2013.

By this time he could not walk, and had sued a hospital in Kenya for misdiagnosis. The case was thrown out in June by Justice Joseph Sergon. During court proceedings which the police are also using to build his profile, the professor said he was suffering from anxiety disorder.

“He was affected mentally and psychologically, which caused him lose his mental capacity. He became ruthless, angry, uncooperative to his family members, his employer, workmates and students,” says court papers in the suit, in which the professor accused a hospital of misdiagnosing him.

Unable to walk, the lecturer underwent hip replacement at the Liberty Health Jersey City Medical Centre in the US. But even after the surgery he was still unable to walk properly and had to rely on a walking stick.

According to Prof Mosoti’s friends, this lack of mobility is among the reasons he had lost control of his household. According to them, his second wife was not only mistreating him but would also take away his walking stick whenever they had an argument.

“It was causing him agony,” said Elijah Mititi, a longtime friend.

“He shared a number of times in our group that his marriage was really troubling him,” he said.

Unable to co-exist with Peris the Professor, who had already lost his first marriage, rented a bedsitter within the neighbourhood in July. The house which has now been cordoned off as a crime scene is on the ground floor of a three storey apartment.

Prof Mosoti’s last months

Inside, the professor’s only belongings, in his quest to start life afresh; include a four-by-six-feet bed, an old mattress, a six kilogram gas burner and a sufuria.

A partly eaten loaf of bread and an apple were on top of the sink. Two bottles of water, a mug, an almost empty bottle of mixed fruit juice plus a toothbrush and tooth paste were on an adjacent table. 

For a man with two bachelor’s degrees, two masters degrees and a doctorate from top universities in the US, Prof Mosoti’s last months alive were a far cry from everything he had spent his life working for. 

His neighbours say that after moving out he still visited his houses but never slept there. There were no extra pairs of clothes in the bedsitter the professor had rented, indicating they were probably being washed and stored in either of his two houses.

But even as the police pull all stops to prevent this case from going cold, finding the killer when investigations are already two weeks late and with no obvious clues could prove to be a hard nut to crack.

“We are turning all stones to find out the killers before he is buried. I want to believe that the police are doing their job well,” Nathan Oburu, the professor’s lawyer told the Nation on Wednesday.

In his report to Kamulu Police Station, Joseph Bosire found the professor’s lifeless body said he found the door to the bedsitter locked from inside but without a padlock. Neighbours don’t recall hearing any commotion on the night Prof Mosoti was murdered.

“On that fateful evening there were two ladies that accompanied him to that house. Some of the neighbours say they know who those two women were so that can provide some clues,” said Prof Mosoti’s cousin David Angwenyi.

The apartment however doesn’t have a watchman at the gate. This means that the killers simply walked in, did their job and vanished into the night. 

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