Jimmy Paluram Jagatrum Baburam, a weapons expert who supplied the Kenya Defence Forces with ammunition and related hardware, was found dead in a swimming pool at the luxurious Medina Palms Resort in Watamu on July 26, 2015.
He was a sick man. Aside from chronic kidney disease, Mr Baburam had cerebral oedema — an accumulation of fluid in spaces inside and outside the brain cells reports Nation.
Jimmy’s Will listed his wife and father as administrators. While the couple had two children, they had also adopted a third child. At the time of his death, the lastborn was in kindergarten.
Things, however, took a fresh twist three months later when Ms Yakub was charged with the murder alongside an American citizen identified as Jacob Schmalzle and Sergeant Abdi Sheikh — a Watamu-based police officer who was accused of concealing evidence to botch the murder investigation.
Ms Yakub and Sergeant Sheikh have also been separately charged with conspiracy to defeat justice, with prosecutors arguing that the police officer received a bribe to disrupt the murder probe.
Ms Yakub is out on a bond of Sh10 million but was also ordered to get two sureties of the same amount. She also has to report to Gigiri Police Station’s commanding officer once every week until the trial is complete.
Mr Jimmy Baburam was a wealthy man, but the full extent of his assets is yet to be publicly disclosed. Sh60 million that Jimmy Baburam had in cash is now part of a bitter succession feud between his father and the widow.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had opposed Ms Yakub’s release, arguing that her frequent travel outside Kenya made her a flight risk and that she had a pending application for US citizenship.
Ms Yakub, however, held that she has never been charged with any other offence and that she attended all inquest sessions before the trial.
A petition she filed seeking to quash the murder and conspiracy charges was dismissed last July when Justice Weldon Korir ruled that there was no sign of malice by the DPP’s office in charging her with both crimes separately.
Mr Schmalzle is now a fugitive wanted by Interpol as he was charged in absentia.