THE senior doctor who performed the autopsy on the body of Olympic Marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru, who died from a presumed fall in May 2011, has suggested that he was bludgeoned to death. The specialist is categorical that Wanjiru did not die as a result of falling from a balcony.
Former Government Chief Pathologist Moses Njue told an inquest into the sudden death of the 2008 Beijing Olympics champion that he was hit on the head with a blunt object and killed. Njue said the head injuries were inflicted independently of the fall from the balcony, previously widely reported as the cause.
“I am convinced the deceased was hit after he fell to the ground,” said Njue.
According to the pathologist, Wanjiru “landed on his four limbs (cat style) from the balcony and was able to stand upright. He was hit on the head and that is when he staggered and fell backwards and had his head hit the cement”.
Njue explained that a falling body normally would generate momentum, which did not happen in Wanjiru’s case.
“The height of the deceased and where he fell from was not enough to generate the momentum to kill him,” said Njue. He said the height of the balcony was 14 feet and should have been at least 18 feet for the fall to kill Wanjiru.
An initial police report stated that the athlete died of injuries sustained in the fall from the balcony of his house. However, Dr Njue told city magistrate Hanna Ndung’u that the injuries on Wanjiru’s knees and palms can only mean he fell like a cat and was then hit from behind. The pathologist described the head injury as massive.
