Caroline Mwatha died from botched abortion, post-mortem confirms

Caroline Mwatha died due to excessive bleeding following a botched abortion exercise, the family pathologist has revealed.

Addressing the media at Umash Funeral Home where the autopsy was conducted, Dr. Peter Ndegwa, said Ms Mwatha, a human rights defender, was “about 5 to 6 months pregnant with a male foetus.”

Her uterus was badly ruptured resulting to excessive bleeding, according to Dr. Ndegwa, who was representing the family.

“Unfortunately, I think somebody mistreated the foetus; it has no left upper limb, it has no brain because it has been sucked out, and there is a lot of blood in abdominal cavity. The foetus was actually in the abdominal cavity, it had come out of the uterus because the uterus had been perforated at the back and this led to bleeding,” said the doctor.

“We also found some needle puncture marks on the right cubital fossa meaning that there was some medical intervention somewhere; and we have taken some test specimen to see what kind of medicine was injected.”

The pathologist also stated that the deceased had no other physical injuries on the body besides the needle marks — ruling out any signs of struggle in the events leading to her death.

The death of Ms. Mwatha, whose body was found on Tuesday at the City Mortuary a week after she went missing, elicited varied reactions with the family and sections of the public initially rejecting the police version that she died from a botched abortion process.

According to the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, Ms. Mwatha went for an abortion at a clinic within Dandora Phase 1 in Nairobi on February 6, 2019 — the day she went missing.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Mr. Kinoti pointed out that police investigations indicate that Ms. Mwatha died in the clinic and the body was transferred to the Nairobi City Mortuary on February 7, 2019 at 4:42a.m.

“On February 6, 2019, Caroline went to a clinic known as New Njiru Community Centre within Dandora Phase 1. It is believed an abortion procedure was procured by the owner of the clinic namely Betty Akinyi Nyanya alias Betty Ramoya and one purported ‘Dr’ Michael Onchiri Dr. Mike,” read the statement in part.

The DCI boss further stated that investigations showed that prior to her death, Ms. Mwatha was in constant communication with a man identified as Alexander Gitau, who works in Isiolo, and is said to be her boyfriend.

According to police the communication was about “an intended abortion of a five-month old pregnancy.”

Meanwhile, a Nairobi court on Wednesday allowed police to detain six people arrested in connection with Ms. Mwatha’s death for 14 days.

The six include; the clinic owner Betty Akinyi Nyanya alias Betty Ramoya, Richard Ramoya Abudo (son to Betty), Georgia Achieng Tabitha, Michael Onchiri alias Dr. Mike, Alexander Gitau Gikonya (boyfriend) and a taxi driver identified as Stephen Maina.