Pastor and singer Ruth Matete was on April 21 questioned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over the death of her Nigerian husband, John Apewajoye.
The former Tusker Project Fame (TPF) winner was interrogated for hours by the Homicide unit at the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road, days after a Nigerian National cried foul over the death of Apewajoye, who passed away on April 11. Matete’s lawyer Robert Odanga told journalists that she was instructed to recount events leading to her husband’s death by an alleged gas cylinder accident at their home in Machakos County. Detectives also visited the home at Greatwall Apartments in Athi River to collect evidence in a bid to establish the cause of Apewajoye’s death.
Postmortem postponed
A post-mortem initially set for April 21 was postponed to April 23. This is after Bellevue Hospital sought to have an independent pathologist present. The singer had accused the hospital of medical negligence during her husband’s admission at the facility with burns. According to Ruth Matete’s statement, her late husband was transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital on April 5 from the facility after developing complications. A nurse at KHN questioned Bellevue Hospital decision’s to admit him for days despite not having a burn unit. She said KNH informed them that Apewajoye had kidney failure because he was not receiving enough water at Bellevue Hospital.
Apewajoye was initially admitted at Shallom Community Hospital on March 30 before being transferred to Bellevue Hospital’s high dependency unit.
The post-mortem will be conducted at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) mortuary.
The gas accident
Matete said that on the fateful day, they reportedly refilled their cooking gas cylinder but found it excessively pressurized.
Her husband then went out to the balcony and released the excess gas before lighting it up. That’s when he allegedly caught fire as the cooking gas fumes were still present on his clothes. The fire was put out with the help of neighbors and Apewajoye rushed to the hospital. After announcing her husband’s unfortunate passing, Matete soon after deactivated all her social media accounts.
Nigerian cries foul
Following Apewajoye’s death, his body was reportedly being held by the Nigerian Embassy at KNH pending the post-mortem. This is after a Nigerian man claiming to be the deceased’s manager demanded a probe into the death, suspecting foul play. In a 17-minute video, Jesse Ekonaze alleged that the couple were having problems in their marriage.