A Makadara court granted police eight days to detain the two Nigerians identified as William Ovie Opia and Johnbull Asbor for eight days pending a probe into their possible involvement in the murder of the student.
They were arrested in the Ndenderu area, Kiambu County on Sunday evening moments after the head of a woman was discovered at Ite Dam.This is after locals alerted the police of the same.
The head is believed to be of Waeni but needs further forensic analysis for identification. Waeni’s family was unable to identify her head Monday at the City Mortuary.
A missing mobile phone that belonged to the deceased was also recovered at the scene.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the two Nigerian Nationals suspected of murdering and dismembering a 20-year-old woman in an apartment on TRM Drive, Kasarani, and absconding with her head were residing in Kenya illegally. William Ovie Opia, whose passport had expired, and Johnbull Asbor, lacking any travel documents at the time of arrest, were found to be in violation of immigration regulations.
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During questioning, Asbor informed detectives that he had lost his passport two years ago.
The DCI's Criminal Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) detectives successfully traced the suspects to an apartment in Ndenderu, Kiambu County, where they were apprehended on Sunday.
During a court session on January 22, Detective Constable Benjamin Wangila from Kasarani DCI offices revealed that the suspects were residing in close proximity to the area where Rita Waeni's head was discovered. Upon searching the residence, law enforcement recovered a hatchet, a butcher's knife, a Kenyan national identity card (withheld name), six mobile phones, three laptops, 10 SIM cards from various telecom service providers, and other items.
“The investigation team is seeking to obtain call data records for all the SIM cards and mobile phone numbers recovered from the respondents to ascertain whether they were involved in the murder,” Wangila stated in an affidavit filed in the court.
“The applicant requires adequate time to escort the respondents to the Government Chemist for extraction of their blood samples for DNA analysis and comparison against the samples that were extracted from the scene of crime.”
He mentioned that the suspects pose a flight risk due to the absence of a known fixed place of abode.
Seeking approval to detain the suspects for eight days at the Kasarani police station, Detective Constable Benjamin Wangila received the granted orders from Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of Makadara Law Courts.
The suspects will remain in custody until January 31.
According to the affidavit, Opia admitted to purchasing a hatchet from an online vendor, claiming it was acquired for self-defense.
Wangila is conducting an investigation into a murder case, as per sections 203 and 204 of the Penal Code. The case was reported at Kasarani police station vide OB34/14/01/2024 by Priscila Maina, the proprietor of the short-stay rental apartment where Ms. Waeni was fatally attacked.
While in custody, Ms. Maina informed the police that she received information from the apartment's caretaker about blood traces within her BnB. This prompted her to inspect a garbage collection point on the ground floor, where body parts were discovered concealed in refuse bags.
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