Tob Cohen burial date set for Monday in Nairobi

What you need to know:

  • In a consent signed by lawyers of the two parties on Thursday, Ms Wairimu and Cohen’s sister Gabriele agreed to inter the body according to Jewish traditions.

Murdered Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen will be buried on Monday his estranged wife Sarah Wairimu and his family have agreed.

In a consent signed by lawyers of the two parties on Thursday, Ms Wairimu and Cohen’s sister Gabriele agreed to inter the body according to Jewish traditions.

The burial, however, is subject to obtaining a court order on the following:

  • The burial ceremony will be private and for family members only. Sarah and Gabrielle will participate as widow and sister respectively.

  • The burial rites will be in accordance with Jewish rites by the concerned community leaders.

  • The burial will take place at the Jewish Cemetery on Wangari Mathai Road at 2pm on Monday 23/9/19.

  • The DPP, DCI, and prison authorities are requested by both Ms Wairimu and Gabriel to facilitate this compromise arrangement, so that Cohen can be accorded a dignified send-off as proposed.

On Wednesday, government Chief Pathologist Johansen Oduor led a team of doctors in conducting a postmortem examination on Cohen's body at the Chiromo mortuary.

The autopsy was done in the presence of two other independent pathologists – Prof Emily Rugena representing Cohen’s family and Prof Andrew Gachii representing Ms Wairimu and other interested parties who include government chemists as well as DCI’s forensic crime scenes investigators and homicide detectives.

On Tuesday night, a CT scan conducted on the body at Kenyatta National Hospital.

The purpose of the scan was to establish the nature of fractures that may be discovered on the body and any other injuries that may be missed during the postmortem.

The Dutchman went missing between July 19 and July 20 and his body was found in a water tank in his compound in Kitisuru, Nairobi, last Friday, 55 days later.

At the time, the 71-year-old tours and travel expert had been pursuing a divorce case against Ms Wairimu. He had also filed an assault case against her.

Ms Wairimu was arrested as the key suspect behind his murder.

Initially, Mr Cohen's workers had told police that he left his high-security compound, where CCTV cameras point to the drive-way, on the afternoon of July 20 at around 2pm. They claimed that he only carried a briefcase and was driven off in a white car.
At first, his wife – well known in Nairobi socialite circles - had told Mr Cohen’s friends that the established golf tournament organiser had left for Thailand to seek treatment but detectives say that there is no evidence from immigration department that the missing tycoon had left the country.