Police given 7 days to arraign athlete murder suspect in court

Iten

Monday, August 21, 2023

KNA by,Alice Wanjiru

A suspect in the murder of a Rwandese athlete will be detained at the Iten police station for seven days to allow investigators to complete their probe before he can take a plea.

The investigating officer Sergeant Peter Kosgey told senior principal magistrate Charles Kutwa that the accused Duncan Khamala was arrested on August 19 2023 at around 4.00pm and therefore he was still in the process of gathering more evidence to help in prosecuting the offence.

Prosecutor Judith Ayuma told the court to allow the application to detain the accused saying failure to do so the 24 hour rule will catch up with them adding that it will also give the police time to take the accused for medical assessment at the Iten County Referral hospital.

In his affidavit to the court, the investigating officer said the accused is alleged to have assaulted Rubayita Siragi a Rwandese national aged 34 years following a disagreement last Friday.

He said following the assault, the deceased was rushed to Iten hospital in critical condition and was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit but succumbed to his injuries the following day while undergoing treatment.

Sergeant Kosgey said the accused was arrested for murder on August 19 following the death of the deceased saying a post mortem was yet to be conducted on the body to establish the cause of death.

He added that the investigating team was yet to interview several witnesses and record their statements.

The officer added that if the accused is released, his life may be at risk as members of the public have threatened to harm him.

The prosecution had requested for 14 days but the court gave them seven days for the accused to be arraigned in court.

Courtesy ; K. N. A