Court Review

Trial of suspects in murder of Dutchman starts in Mombasa

Riziki Cherono Ali (right) at Mombasa High Court when she appeared before High Court Judge Anne Ong’injo, charged with the double murder of two people. She denied the charges and will have to wait till September 16 for her bond ruling.

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The trial of a widow over the murder of her Dutch husband has started in Mombasa, with a key witness describing the prime suspect’s conversation with an accomplice days before the macabre killing.

A witness told the court that Mr Herman Rouwenhorst’s widow, Rikizi Ali Cherono, had engaged in a secret conversation with her friend before the foreigner was murdered.

“Whenever I moved close to her, she would move far away from me so that I didn’t get to hear what they were talking about. This happened several times some days before Mr Rouwenhorst was killed,” the witness, a minor, told High Court Judge Anne Ong’injo.

The witness said that whenever Ms Cherono wanted to speak to the friend called Mary, she would take the witness’ phone and move far away before making a call.

The witness told the court that Mr Rouwenhorst had planned to divorce Ms Cherono and that at one point, the couple disagreed over the issue.

“I remember one day Ms Cherono came to my room after she had quarrelled with the deceased. She told us that it is the deceased who will leave the house and not her,” the witness said.

This was after it had become apparent that Mr Rouwenhorst had decided to divorce Ms Cherono.

“She was very angry because of the divorce threats,” said the witness upon cross-examination by the suspect’s lawyer Katwa Kigen.

According to the witness, one of the suspects arrested by police following the killing of the foreigner had been a frequent visitor in the home.

“She used to come to our house and would visit many places together with Ms Cherono,” said the witness, adding that the suspect never used her own phone whenever she wanted to have a secret conversation with the friend.

But before the case could proceed, Justice Ong’injo ordered the media to leave the courtroom.

Ms Cherono is charged with the double murder of Mr Rouwenhorst and night guard Evans Bambo Bokolo.

According to the charge sheet, she murdered Mr Rouwenhorst and Bokolo at Roco apartments in Shanzu, Mombasa County.

She has denied the offences, which the state says she carried out jointly with others still at large.

She faces the offences alongside her accomplice Timothy Omondi Ngowe, alias Kelvin Omondi.

Police say Ms Cherono authored the crime by planning, procuring and facilitating the perpetrators for her own benefit.

The court heard that Ms Cherono had taken the perpetrators to the house, showed them the layout and photographed the bedroom before the murder was executed.

The police also allege that an accused person gave a key to the house to her accomplice on the date the murder was committed.

But Ms Cherono has denied killing the Dutchman and the watchman.

“I did not kill, and I am not responsible for the death of my husband and Mr Bokolo. I am most interested to know who did it,” she had told the court when she applied for bond.

She has described the murder charges against her as circumstantial and meant to unfairly implicate her in the murder.