• Defence lawyer Philip Murgor says that Cohen's body was planted in the compound, possibly with the knowledge of the police
• He says his client is being framed by people with interest in the couple's properties
Image: FELIX NJENGA
Murdered Dutch billionaire Tob Cohen was an erratic, violent drug addict and was nearly deported by former Internal Security minister John Michuki, now deceased.
This, according to his widow and murder suspect Sarah Wairimu, who is a murder suspect. The body of Dutchman was fished out of a water tank in his Kitisuru residence on Friday last week.
Wairimu, in a lengthy statement to the police before Cohen went missing on July 20, says that her husband was a stubborn and unpredictable man with no sense of shame or honour.
His attitude got him in trouble with Michuki, the no-nonsense security minister, at his Windsor Golf and Country Club and Hotel.
"..Tob had crossed his [Michuki's] path by insulting him and his company and was to be deported. I appealed and he was let free.
"After this, we were made persona-non-grata at the Windsor and had to withdraw our business from there," Wairimu said.
The couple managed a successful golfing tourism business and Windsor was one of the golf courses in which they took clients.
Wairimu is in remand at the Nairobi Women prison. She is expected in court today in connection with the murder of her husband of 13 years.
In the report to the police, she recalled an occasion during their daughter's wedding at their Farasi Lane home. She claimed Cohen got drunk and started asking young boys and girls for sex.
"It [the wedding] went well and he participated. When evening came, he was already intoxicated and started harassing and insulting the guests. He solicited sex from our daughter's friends, both boys and girls. There was a big shame as we had guests from all over the world," she wrote.
She paints a picture of a vengeful and irritable man who would fight business rivals physically in clubs and social places.
Subdued and injured, Cohen would return home to a welcoming Sarah and lie low until he healed before getting back to his drinking binge.
She claimed those who crossed his path would die mysteriously.
There was Barnard Martems, the boss of Papyrus Africa Ltd. He was always at loggerheads with her husband.
"[Martems was always at loggerheads with Tob and he had become a whistleblower to the downfall and closure of ABN AMRO Bank in Kenya. Martems ended up being shot at his gate in Karen," she claims.
Frank Timmerman, a foreigner client who wanted to settle in Kenya, collapsed and died mysteriously after a disagreement over business deals with Cohen.
Wairimu said her husband was a violent man who repeatedly assaulted and insulted her. He had formed the habit of referring to her as a Nyeri prostitute.
He would harass and abuse workers at home and in their businesses, eventually dismissing them without notice.
Cohen would break house doors and change locks in their posh Kitisuru home while she away on safari and would send her pictures when he is with other women.
In each of the incidents of violence, she said, she reported to Spring Valley Police station but no action was taken.
Cohen was a bully and whenever he needed something from someone, he would dangle the title deed of their property at Farasi Lane, Lower Kabete to entice his target.
It is this claim that her lawyer Philip Murugor appeared to build on his defence, claiming Wairimu has been framed by people with interest over their property at Farasi Lane which they jointly acquired in 2007.
The end-game of the plot was to have her locked up in prison to allow those with interest evict her from the house, Murgor claimed.
He claimed Cohen's body was planted at the scene by the police.
"A search at the home was done with the consent and presence of Sarah from room to room. In the compound, they checked the manholes except one, which was just five metres a part," he said.
"On Thursday someone (police officer) announced that the search would stop. The following day, they resumed, but without my client and eventually announced that the body had been found," Murgor told reporters on Saturday.