The late Keroche Breweries heiress Tecra Karanja had a swelling in the brain after tumbling down a staircase at a house in Lamu, the Star has learnt.
The condition, which doctors describe as cerebral-edema, means there is a buildup of fluid around the brain, which can lead to brain damage.
Tecra, reports indicate, is a frequent visitor to Lamu.
She arrived early April to visit boyfriend Omar Lali of Shella town, Lamu Island.
The two met mid last year and a relationship blossomed.
A police source who requested anonymity said they were investigating claims that the two might have been involved in a row, and that they are investigating how the accident happened.
After arriving in Lamu last month, the two rented a room at their favourite Manda Diamond Hotel in Shella for a week.
They later left and rented a cottage.
On Tuesday last week, Tecra was found unresponsive at the bottom of the staircase leading to their cottage by neighbours, who reportedly woke Lali. He was apparently asleep, unaware Tecra lay unconscious at the staircase.
Witnesses said blood was oozing from her nose and mouth though many were unable to explain how she fell, or what could have triggered the fall.
Upon receiving news of her daughter’s accident, Tecra’s mother, Tabitha Karanja, chartered a private chopper that airlifted her for treatment at the Nairobi Hospital on April 27, from where she died on Saturday.
Friends, who did not want to be named, claimed she was conscious at the time she was airlifted to Nairobi.
It had been recommended by medics that she undergoes brain surgery to defuse the extreme pain medically referred to as cerebral-edema. She died before it was done.
“Sometime last year, the brother came here and tried to convince her to leave Omar alone as she was being taken advantage of. It didn’t work as Tecra said she loved him<” one friend said.
The boyfriend is being held by detectives in Lamu as investigations into the accident commence.
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