Detectives from the Homicide Section of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Headquarters last Friday visited the Malindi hotel in which a German national was murdered in cold blood on Monday night.
The sleuths, who were led by Mr. Martin Nyuguto, the officer in charge of the homicide section within the DCI’s Investigations Branch, declared the entire Moriema Cottages hotel a crime scene and placed a cordon to bar members of the public from accessing it.
Mr. Nyuguto declined to brief the media on the team’s mission, and instead told them to stay outside the hotel compound to allow the officers to carry out investigations into the murder of 78-year old Detering Herman inside his cottage room.
“I urge you to wait outside the hotel because it is a crime scene. You may be briefed later at the (Kilifi) County Headquarters. You can however take pictures from afar,” he said before directing the team members to start cordoning off the scene of crime.
The officers included forensic experts and crime detectives. They were accompanied by officials from the Government Chemist and the German Embassy in Nairobi.
The visit coincided with reports that the prime suspect was arrested on Thursday night at a bar in Diani after forensic analysis placed the 32-year old woman at the scene of crime.
The DCI, in its official twitter handle, said Mary Mwikali Kavuu was arrested in Diani, South Coast, on Thursday evening by DCI detectives based at the Headquarters.
“Forensic analysis from the scene of crime led the detectives handling the case to her hideout in Diani, triggering her arrest,” the DCI said.
It said further investigations were ongoing to establish the motive behind the appalling killing, adding that the suspect would be arraigned in court once necessary police procedure is complete.
The detectives arrived at the hotel at about 9.30AM and immediately held a closed-door meeting with hotel workers before they cordoned off the scene of crime and commencing investigations.
The cottage in which the German national was murdered has been under a 24-hour police guard since the body was discovered on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday, hotel staff told journalists that Herman could have been killed by one of his many frequent female visitors, whose identity details the tourist did not allow the hotel staff to take.
Hotel Manager Kelly Kazungu, said that hotel workers realized something was wrong when the tourist failed to come out of his cottage room for the entire day and that on peeping through the window, he saw blood splattered on the bed and wall and alerted the police.
Among the things the sleuths would seek to unravel is whether the assailant committed the crime alone or whether she had accomplices as well as the motive of the brutal killing.
By Emmanuel Masha
