Shock as senior State advocate in divorce suit dies

The legal fraternity is in mourning after a senior State prosecutor was found dead in his house yesterday, only three days before a court was to deliver judgment in a divorce case between him and one of his spouses.

Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Fredrick Ashimosi, who was attached to the Prosecution Training Institute, was found dead in his house in Buru Buru estate in Nairobi. Police suspect that Ashimosi, who had been on sick leave, might have inhaled toxic carbon monoxide gas from a jiko found in the house.

The body was discovered after neighbours detected a foul smell emanating from his house. 

Jiko near the bed

Nairobi Regional Police Commander  James Mugera said: “Police broke into the house and found a jiko next to his bed, raising the probability that he may have lit it due to the cold weather before falling asleep”. But the police boss cautioned the public against speculations until a postmortem examination is done. 

As the family struggled to come to terms with the death, reports emerged that the senior prosecutor had been living in fear of witchcraft allegedly practised by his spouse.

As if in a premonition, Ashimosi had even predicted that he might not make it to the August 9 elections.

Leads that the detectives are following include witchcraft, carbon monoxide inhalation and natural cause.

The prosecutor, 47, had earlier accused one of his spouses of being a witch and a devil worshiper who wanted to sacrifice him for material gain. These allegations were contained in his court papers.

Also, Ashimosi had stated that he was forced to desert their matrimonial home and spend nights in hotel rooms after the woman — an advocate of the High Court — allegedly unleashed evil spirits on him, making him suffer a stroke.

In the papers, Ashimosi claimed he learnt about his spouse’s weird ways when they were living together last year. “I discovered that she is always naked while in the room and enters the room in a reverse manner. That, upon deep visionary prayers, I have come to learn that my wife, the petitioner, is a member of Illuminati and that she had erected an altar of a cult upon payment of a sacrifice. Further, she is a devil worshipper. She rears evil, demonic and satanic spirits in the form of ‘majinis’ in her room and she is a witch who widely consults other witches all over the world,” Ashimosi had stated in his affidavit.

Sought prayers

The prosecutor claimed that, were it not for prayers and intervention by a village pastor, he would have died years back.

Ashimosi’s claims arose after his spouse filed divorce proceedings against him, citing cruelty, desertion, adultery, infidelity and irreconcilable differences.

“During the subsistence of the marriage, the respondent has been and is guilty of cruelty and violence against me; and his actions have caused me great mental anguish and torment, including physical scars,” said the spouse.

But Ashimosi, in his replying affidavit, denied the allegations and instead accused his spouse of being behind their strained marriage.

“On or around March 13, 2016, I was in the house together with my wife in the sitting room when she received a call from a man who was waiting for her on the road in the estate. I tried to enquire whom the caller was … A quarrel ensued between us and, as she was walking to her bedroom, a flower pot fell on her leg, slightly injuring her,” he stated.

He recalled that in October 1999, he met the plaintiff, who was then 19 years old and a first-year student at the University of Nairobi. “We dated until December 2001 when we commenced living together as a couple,” said the prosecutor.

“We were blessed with three children. In 2008, I commenced traditional marriage rites, whereby we negotiated and agreed on a dowry of Sh1 million and five Friesian heads of cattle, for which I paid Sh500,000 for two heads in October 2008. The balance was stagnated, which I have since settled in full,” he said.

 High profile cases

Before his death, Ashimosi had handled several high profile cases, including the Sh8 billion Karen land saga in which former Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu had been implicated.

Ashimosi also led in the prosecution of five suspects involved in the grabbing of Sh2.3 billion land from Miwani Sugar Company in Kisumu. Also, he handled the prosecution and appeals relating to the quashing of charges against former Roads Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau, arguing that the decision would affect more than 100 cases worth Sh16.9 billion.

Another case he worked on involved Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and his nominated counterpart Sonia Birdi, who were charged before a Naivasha court in 2020 with creating a disturbance.