{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Standard Digital News - Kenya : One man, two British women in a tale of love, poison

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000180122/one-man-two-british-women-in-a-tale-of-love-poison

Standard Digital News - Kenya : One man, two British women in a tale of love, poison

Philip David Veever prepares to take an oath before being cross-examined on the death of his father at the Shanzu Law Court in Mombasa. (Photo: Kelvin Karani/Standard)

A British property developer who came to Kenya 25 years ago and converted to Islam, before marrying a British Muslim woman in Mombasa was poisoned to death, a witness told a judicial inquest into his mystery death.

An autopsy conducted after the exhumation of his body discovered traces of pesticide in his soft tissue samples and soils around the body.

The grim details of Harry Roy Veevers's extraordinary life with two women and rival families were unveiled at the start of a judicial inquiry ordered by Justice Maureen Odero two years ago. The hearing began last week.

Harry was found dead in his bungalow in Nyali several years after leaving his family in the United Kingdom to live with the British woman in Mombasa.

Before coming to Kenya, he had divorced his British wife Marvis Florence Veevers and fled to Kenya with Azra Praveen Deen. In Kenya, Harry had two daughters, Hellen and Alexandra, and started a thriving real estate business in Mombasa.

Harry died on February 14, 2013 and was buried in a local cemetery as a Muslim. Azra informed Harry's family in the UK about his death. However, Harry's family in the UK appealed to the British High Commission to intervene and stop the burial until they had come to Mombasa.

But when Harry's two sons from his first marriage, Philip David and Richard John Veevers and their uncle, whose name has not been given, arrived on February 18, 2013, they were not allowed to stay in his Nyali bungalow. They were asked to stay in a hotel.

Philip, a medical technician in the British military, claimed in his testimony that members of Harry's first family were, for the most part, also not allowed to view Harry's body at Pandya Hospital in Mombasa before burial on February 19, 2013.

Burial rites

But a few minutes to the burial, Richard and Philip say they were allowed to view the body at the mortuary. Philip said he, his brother and uncle were informed their father was going to be interred in accordance with Islamic burial rites.

"Azra was agitated when we asked her why my father's body had not been taken for post-mortem. She said Muslim bodies are not taken for post-mortem," he narrated. Philip said he protested, insisting his late father never converted to Islam and demanded a probe into the cause of death.

He said police did not take interest when Harry was buried, prompting the Veevers to apply to the High Court in Mombasa for exhumation and an autopsy.

Richard on Thursday testified that "the post-mortem disclosed that my father died from rat poison", citing findings in a Government report compiled after the probe. Richard, who testified on Thursday, alleged that his father was licensed to own a gun, which could not be traced.

Meanwhile, Philip told Mombasa Principal Magistrate Jacinta Kwena, who is presiding over the inquest, that he could remember seeing purple and red markings on his father's skin at the mortuary, which aroused his suspicion that he could have been poisoned to death.

"As an experienced medical technician in the army who is versed with causes of death, I suspected my father had been poisoned and that is why we took several photographs (of the body) before his burial," he said.

Philip, who was being led in testimony by State lawyer Brian Pratt Ayodo, recalled how he attended the washing of the body at a mosque before it was escorted to the grave.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : One man, two British women in a tale of love, poison

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000180122/one-man-two-british-women-in-a-tale-of-love-poison

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