Ruth Matete DCI news Archives

DCI forced to intervene after Ruth Matete’s husband’s burial turns ugly

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Gloria Katunge

Ruth Matete was finally granted the go-ahead to give her late husband, Pastor Belovedjohn Apewajoye a deserving sendoff but the nitty gritties of it stand in the way.

After months of the deceased’s body lying in the morgue at Kenyatta National Hospital, accumulated morgue fees have only skyrocketed the more.

This saw the Kenyan gospel artist give up on ever burying her late hubby, therefore leaving it to the Nigerian embassy to do as they please with his body that had reportedly been held back for conclusive investigations.

The DCI take over Ruth Matete’s late husband’s case

Also read: Ruth Matete´s late husband´s burial takes an interesting turn

The setback

Well, now that the official bodies have set free Pastor John’s body for burial, Ruth Matete and her family is expected to pay at least KSh 600,000 as morgue fees before the body is released to her.

Unfortunately, the bill has proven hard to foot by themselves, even calling upon Kenyans to extend a helping hand in whatever way they can. Radio host, Jeridah Andayi shared:

Kindly support her to give Pastor Beloved John a good sendoff through paybill 891300 Account number 39659 .

This has now forced the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to try and negotiate with the city hospital to wave the body preservation charges piled on the heavily pregnant singer to allow her some sanity.

In a letter addressed to the CEO of KNH, the DCI penned:

We hereby request that you consider waiving the body storage charges resulting from the retention of the body as a result of a request by the Nigerian High Commission to have time to consult the deceased’s brother in Nigeria.

Former couple, Ruth Matete and Pastor Belovedjohn

Her demands

Matete is yet to pick the body from the morgue as her lawyer Mr Robert Odanga revealed that Matete first needs to know the status of the probe before she sends off her husband.

Plus, she has made demands that the embassy first clears the mortuary and burial expenses so that she can accept her late husband´s body.

Admitting that the situation has not only been disruptive to her personal life but to her brand and business as well.

At the moment everything is at a standstill. She cannot launch her album, teach at her music school or preach at her church with the dark cloud hanging over her name. The public perception is stacked against her.

Details: DCI homicide detectives question Ruth Matete for hours over husband’s death

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Gloria Katunge

Gospel singer, Ruth Matete was yesterday, 21st April grilled by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ homicide unit following her husband’s demise.

Earlier on, she had on Friday, 17th April, recorded another statement with the DCI detectives on the same.

On Tuesday, officers from the DCI questioned Ms Matete for a good six hours at their headquarters, after unclear circumstances surrounded the death of her late husband, Pastor Belovedjohn Apewajoye.

Ruth Matete with her friend at the DCI headquarters on 21st April

Investigations

Last week, the singer, in the company of homicide detectives, went to collect samples from her house in Athi River, Machakos county where the unfortunate incident had occurred.

They took away the said gas cylinder as an exhibit from the scene which has since been treated as a crime scene.

The homicide detectives are set to work alongside those at Athi River as they try to establish the facts surrounding the Nigerian pastor’s death.

Athi River police boss, Catherine Ringera divulged that this alliance was nothing new.

They are colleagues and it is meant to ensure no doubt left. After the autopsy, we will know the way forward.

A postmortem had been expected to be conducted yesterday, the 21st of April but has since been postponed to Thursday.

Parties of interest

Bellevue South Hospital – that was implicated for allegedly mishandling the deceased – said they will have an independent pathologist present during the examination.

An examination set to be conducted at the Kenyatta National Hospital mortuary in Nairobi.

Ruth Matete’s lawyer, Robert Odanga however stated that the hospital has a case to answer, despite distancing themselves from any previous incidences of neglecting their patients.

Bellevue South hospital on the 17th of April had released a statement that reads in part:

Our emergency response unit has had the best outcomes in managing a good number of burn cases that have recovered tremendously and discharged from our hospital.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Embassy in Nairobi said they will rely on the findings from the DCI to determine the actual cause of Mr Apewajoye’s demise.

The Nation further indicated that any other parties that had interests in the case would as well be allowed to present independent pathologists.

Details: DCI detectives get involved in Ruth Matete’s late husband’s death

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Gloria Katunge

Following the controversy surrounding Ruth Matete’s husband’s death, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have since been at the scene of the gas explosion.

Thursday, the 16th of April, the detectives paid Ruth Matete a visit at her home where a gas explosion had her late husband suffer burn injuries.

The singer is reported to have led detectives, lawyer Robbert Odanga, scene-of-crime officers and officials from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, to the scene of the explosion.

The team collected exhibits inclusive of a gas cylinder and other samples to establish the root cause of the accident.

This is after Apewajoye’s alleged manager and friend, Jesse McJessy accused the singer of trying to cover up the cause of her hubby’s death.

Account

The Kenyan artist wrote a statement, to give an account of the happening of events on the fateful evening – 30th March at around 5 pm.

According to Ruth Matete, the late Belovedjohn sustained injuries while trying to light their 6kg gas cylinder, after a refill.

The gas was full and he had tried to release some of it.

Immediately after, he tried to light the gas and that is when it exploded.

The singer then started screaming and running towards the bedroom to get a duvet to cover her hubby who only had a pair of trousers on.

Pastor John was then rushed to Shalom hospital where he stayed briefly before being moved to the High Dependency Unit at Bellevue South hospital.

Here, he developed complications that had him rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) on the 5th of April.

Medics at KNH divulged to Ruth that it was wrong for Bellevue to admit her hubby without a burns unit.

Something that might have probably worsened his condition.

They said my husband had not been receiving enough water at Bellevue Hospital which led to his kidney failure. They also failed to take care of his wounds so they became septic.

Investigations

Matete’s lawyer, Robert Odanga stated that a postmortem to determine the deceased’s demise is set to be conducted.

But once the Nigerian embassy had granted the go-ahead.

The embassy is still holding the body at KNH mortuary after a video was released by one of its citizens questioning the circumstances behind his death.

Meanwhile, the gospel singer has already filed complaints against the gas company and Bellevue hospital.

According to Bellevue Hospital, Pastor Beloved john only sustained 40 per cent burns but KNH reports indicated he sustained 60 per cent burns.