Samuel Muchoki, popularly known as Samidoh, took the witness stand Monday to challenge the theory that his nephew, designer Jeff Mwathi, died by suicide.

Samidoh told the court that he did not believe Mwathi ended his own life. “I only want to know how my nephew died,” he said, as he recounted his close relationship with the late Mwathi, whom he described as a collaborator in fashion, not a rival.

He further clarified that DJ Fatxo—a fellow artist from Nyandarua County—was his mentee. "I supported him musically and had no mission to destroy him," Samidoh emphasised.

On the morning of the tragedy, Samidoh said, he reported the incident to police at 8 a.m., while DJ Fatxo arrived at the station at 11 a.m. The scene, he added, was unsecured when he arrived.

According to his testimony, Mwathi’s estimated time of death was between 5 and 6 a.m., with police arriving an hour later. At the site, Samidoh found three women and two men, none of whom he said were in a relationship with Mwathi.

Drawing on CCTV footage, he recounted seeing Mwathi’s body fall from a height. When he first viewed the body during the second postmortem examination, it was already dressed; he claimed the initial autopsy results were unsatisfactory and prompted him to seek a second opinion at the DCI headquarters.

“When I saw the body, it was dressed; the shoes were missing, the trousers were half-worn, and the underwear around the ankles,” he testified.

Casting further doubt on the suicide theory, Samidoh said the bed near the window remained undisturbed, with no sign of a struggle or attempts to climb out. “If he had jumped, the bed would have been displaced. But it was neat,” he said.