A Kenyan magistrate has ruled that the cause of death of British tycoon Harry Roy Veevers—whose exhumed body has remained in a Mombasa morgue for 11 years—cannot be determined.
Magistrate David Odhiambo ordered the inquest closed, stating that the body’s advanced decomposition at the time of exhumation—months after burial—made it impossible to establish how Veevers died. “Nobody can be called to answer any charge,” he said.
Veevers died on Valentine’s Day 2013 in the coastal city of Mombasa. He was buried under Islamic rites without a post-mortem examination, which sparked a prolonged legal battle. His two sons from a previous marriage, Richard and Philip Veevers, living in the UK, pushed for an investigation, accusing his second wife Azra Parveen Din and her daughters, Helen and Alexandra, of involvement in his death to gain his multi-million-dollar estate. The accused have consistently denied wrongdoing.
On Tuesday, Odhiambo cited the state of the remains and “conflicting reports by pathologists, the government chemist, and other experts” as reasons no charges could be brought. He declared the investigation closed unless new evidence emerges.
The magistrate also ordered the body’s release from the morgue upon payment of fees accrued over the past 11 years. However, he declined to decide who should take custody of the remains, instructing both families to seek guidance from another court.
At the time of Veevers’ death, his second wife said he died of natural causes. But his swift Islamic burial raised suspicions among his sons, who claimed he was not Muslim and had been buried under a false name. They also alleged possible poisoning.
In January last year, a magistrate’s court ruled the death was not suspicious, but the sons successfully appealed to the High Court to reopen the inquest, citing procedural irregularities. The case was returned to the lower court for review.
Tests after the exhumation revealed traces of pesticide on the remains and surrounding soil. However, experts disagreed on whether it caused his death. In his final ruling, Odhiambo acknowledged the poisonous traces but stressed that conflicting expert findings meant the cause of death “remains unknown.