No charges for Venezuelan diplomat

By Isaiah Lucheli

A Venezuelan embassy official was arraigned at the high court in connection with the murder of the acting ambassador Olga Fonseca Gimenez.

Dwight Sagaray who is a law student at the University of Nairobi appeared before high court Judge Florence Muchemi but charges were not preferred against him.

Deputy prosecution counsel Tabitha Ouya representing the state had filed a motion in court seeking the court to detain Sagaray for 14 days in order to enable the police to conduct investigations without interference.

In a sworn affidavit by police constable Lucas Juma the prosecution had stated that the postmortem report, age assessment and the DNA were yet to be attained from the government analysts.

Ouya submitted that the suspect should be held in custody as investigations were incomplete and would require more time to secure the crucial evidence to apprehend other suspects.

However the lawyer Jotham Arwa representing Sagaray argued that his client had been held in police custody for over 24 hours and sought that he be released on reasonable bail.

He added that his client was a student of the University of Nairobi and his continued detention in custody had interfered with his studies.

The deceased was the charge’ d’affaires and acting ambassador of Venezuela in Kenya and she had arrived in the country on July 15 to replace Ambassador Gerardo Carillo-Silva.

The judge will give a ruling on the matter Tuesday midday.