The owner of the short-term rental apartment on TRM Drive in Kasarani, Nairobi, where Rita Waeni Muendo, 20, was dismembered over the weekend, will be detained for ten days.
Three men who were taken into custody at the Green House Apartments, which are adjacent to the residence where the woman was savagely murdered, will be detained alongside Priscila Maina at the Kasarani police station.
Because Ms. Maina neglected to legally register her tenant’s vital information, which would have made it easier for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) agents to find the murderer, she is being held.
Some of the deceased’s body parts were discovered on the ground floor of the home wrapped in a white bedsheet bag, while other body parts were discovered stowed in two trash bags at the trash collection location, with her head missing.
Ms Maina is held together with Kelvin Mutiso, Eugene Omondi, and Brian Kinoti who were arrested near the house and the DCI has obtained orders to detain them pending investigations.
Lawyer Eunice Katila had opposed the application to detain Ms Maina stating that it was her client who reported the incident to the police which shows she had nothing to hide and her only mistake was failure to register the personal details of the client who booked the house.
“The scene has also been secured and she cannot in any manner interfere with the investigations,” stated Ms Katila.
The deceased woman was killed and dismembered by an unidentified man who had rented the BnB – house number B1 located on the first floor of the Green House Apartments which had been rented by a middle-aged man who did not give his particulars at the time of renting the house.
The DCI says Mutiso was found in house number B2 next to the one where the woman was killed and told the police that he had visited the house and spent the night there.
According to the DCI, upon searching him, he was found with a blood-like substance on and underneath his nails.
The other two men told the police that they were with Mutiso watching an Africa Continental tournament match and had dinner together before parting ways.
Omondi who is a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology had visited his uncle who lives in the house they were found just before returning to school.
His uncle lived next to the house where the deceased was killed.
Kinoti who lives on the third floor of the apartment had joined Mutiso and Omondi in the house where they watched a football match before he returned to his house.
Their lawyer Steve Nyamu also opposed the application stating that Ms Maina had given the phone number of the client who rented the house.
“There are also CCTV footage in possession of the police showing the main suspect and the features in those footages do not resemble either of the respondents (Mutiso, Omondi and Kinoti),” he stated.
The orders were granted by Senior Principal Magistrate Justus Kituku of the Makadara Law Courts after corporal Winnie Mworia of Kasarani DCI offices sought to detain the suspects to aid in investigations.
Mr Kituku stated that there is public interest in light of the emerging trend that thorough investigations be conducted and all those suspected are duly processed in accordance with the law.
“There is no doubt that the nation’s psyche has been gripped by the increased murder cases in Air BnB where victims have been lured and killed, raising public outrage and concerns about the safety of those bnbs. The most recent unfortunate incident is now what is before the court,” the magistrate stated.
“Actually, it is in the best interest of the respondents (Ms Maina, Mutiso, Omondi and Kinoti) that they be thoroughly investigated and exonerated if they are innocent than hurried investigations where they charge only to be acquitted after a long trial.”
Mr Kituku added that it is also important to note that there is a victim and her family who are looking forward to justice noting that they are equally protected by article 50 (9) of the constitution.
Cpl. Mworia said that some blood samples collected from the scene are to be taken to the Government Chemist for DNA analysis and more samples are yet to be taken from the deceased for the same.
She had stated that more crucial witness statements were yet to be recorded. The suspects will return to court on January 25.
