Venezuelan official in court over envoy's death

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The First Secretary of the Venezuelan embassy Dwight Sagaray being led to the court on July 30, 2012. He is a suspect in the murder of the Venezuelan's ambassador to Kenya Olga Fonseca. PHOTO / PAUL WAWERU 

By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, July 30  2012 at  12:38

The Director of Public Prosecution has applied for a 14-day detention of an official at the Venezuelan embassy arrested in connection with the death of the country’s ambassador to Kenya.

Through state counsel Tabitha Ouya, the DPP said it is seeking extra detention days to allow for complete investigations before bringing up a formal murder charge against First Secretary Dwight Sagaray for the death of the Venezuelan's ambassador to Kenya Olga Fonseca.

The suspect had been charge d’affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy.

Ms Ouya told the court that Mr Sagaray is a suspect in the murder awaiting completion of investigations before he is formally charged.

She said that the suspect was arrested on Saturday, a few hours after his diplomatic immunity was waived, and that the police had not had enough time to compile evidence linking Mr Saragay to the murder.

“Initial investigations reveal the deceased was strangled and Mr Sagaray is a key suspect in her death. The offence is very serious and has attracted much public attention which is why we are requesting for more days to complete investigations,” said Ouya.

She added that Mr Sagaray should be detained to allow investigators obtain post-mortem results of the deceased, DNA analysis report as well as age and mental assessment report of the suspect.

She argued that the investigators still need to secure more crucial evidence and arrest other possible suspects in the murder, adding that Mr Sagaray holds a very influential position at the Embassy and if released would interfere with potential witnesses.

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“Possible witnesses are from the Embassy and we fear he might interfere with them. That is the reason we are asking to continue holding him to gather enough evidence to bring up murder charge,” said Ouya.

The application to detain the suspect was opposed by his lawyer Jotham Arwa who asked the court to balance between the interest of the accused and justice.

Mr Arwa submitted that the reasons given to continue detaining the accused were not sufficient since the prosecution had enough time from Saturday - when he was arrested - to complete their investigations and either charge him with murder or release him.

He argued that Mr Sagaray’s continued detention without being charged will not in any way stop the police from obtaining post-mortem and DNA results, and that there was no certainty that they will conclude the investigations within the requested 14 days.

Lady Justice Florence Muchemi will make a ruling on the application on Tuesday.