Police are seeking to detain a woman suspected to have been involved in the murder of a 19-year-old Najma Abdullahi Maalim in Mombasa last week.
The Director of Public Prosecution DPP counsel Bosibori Ogega applied to have Faiza Ali Hassan detained for 14 days to allow police to conclude their investigation.
Faiza was the last person to be seen with Najma on Thursday last week after she visited the deceased at her home in Changamwe.
Ogega told Resident Magistrate Vincent Adet that Faiza has been on the run after she learnt police were looking for her.
The prosecutor said Faiza escaped from Mombasa to Eldoret and later tried to sneak back to Nairobi where she was apprehended by police in the Kangundo area.
Najma was found unconscious at Dongo Kundu Area by good Samaritans and taken to PortReiz Sub-County Hospital where she died while undergoing treatment.
“The suspect was fleeing from Mombasa and was tracked to Eldoret on June 10 2021 and then travelled to Nairobi on noticing she was being sought by police,” said the prosecutor.
However, Faiza said she does not understand English or Swahili and forced the court to adjourn the application for her detention until tomorrow.
A postmortem conducted at the Coast General Hospital on Saturday indicated Najma died of high-velocity injury.
The autopsy further revealed the teenager suffered a seven-centimeter fracture on the right side of her head, which also had a deep cut. There were visible marks of injuries on her face too.
Najma’s brain got clogged with blood, a sign that she had massive internal bleeding.
Ogega said police are yet to record statements from crucial witnesses who are outside Mombasa County and collect call data from the suspect.
“We do request the court to remand the respondent at Changamwe Police for 14 days to enable police complete their investigations,” said Ogega.
According to police, Fiaza was seen with the deceased on the evening of June 9, 2021 at Changamwe area after Najma escorted her from their home in Changamwe.
The deceased family lawyer Derrick Odhiambo told the court the family wants justice for their daughter and the suspect should be detained until the investigations are complete.
Police reports indicate that Najma left home at 4pm, and when her elder sister, Ifrah Abdullahi, called her at 6pm, Najma said she was on her way back home.
At 7pm, Najma’s phone was unreachable and she did not return home that night.
Najma sat her 2020 KCSE exams at Karima Girls’ High School in Kinangop, Nyandarua County.
She was to join university later this year after scoring a B (plain) in the national test.
After completing secondary education, she moved to Mombasa, where she was staying with her elder sister, Ifrah Abdullahi.
By Hussein Abdullahi
