Riziki Cherono, the widow of the Dutch man killed three weeks ago at his home, has been detained for 10 days.
Herman Rouwenhourst was killed at his Roco apartment in Shanzu area, Mombasa, by three gang men.
The court allowed Cherono to be detained at the Port police station pending completion of investigations.
Resident magistrate David Odhiambo allowed an application by investigations officer Reuben Mwaniki who sought more days to complete their investigations.
According to a sworn affidavit by Mwaniki, the deceased was killed at their master bedroom and there was no sign of violence on the security setting of the compound.
The investigator said they believe Cherono had played a role in the murder of the 55-year-old foreigner.
The officer told the court that some of the witnesses expected to be lined up by the prosecution are children below 18 years who have already been threatened by the suspect who is their sole guardian.
He further revealed some of the witnesses who lived in the apartments have been threatened therefore moving out of the apartments and police have to track them down and record their statements.
Mwaniki said Cherono’s detention will give investigators time to record statements from other witnesses.
He said they further intend to escort the suspect to the Government Chemist to extract samples which will be compared with exhibits recovered at the scene.
Cherono was arrested on Wednesday at the home where her husband was killed.
The suspect had been married to the deceased for close to 13 years and together they have three children.
Cherono’s arrest came after investigations carried out by both crime research and intelligence unit alongside their homicide counterpart and were drawn from both Nairobi and Mombasa.
Coast police boss Paul Ndambuki revealed that the police were in pursuit of another suspect who had been in constant communication with Cherono days before her husband was killed alongside their security guard.
“Investigations indicated that she is the main suspect in the murder of Rouwenhosrt alongside other suspects who are still at large,” he said.
Ndambuki said Cherono will be arraigned at the Mombasa law courts to face murder charges.
A postmortem conducted by government pathologist Johansen Oduor indicated that the deceased had been hit with a blunt object first before he was strangled to death.
A police source revealed that Cherono might have opened the doors to the house for three men who then gained access to their bedroom where they tied the deceased to the bed and gagged him before strangling him.
The source revealed that it is Cherono’s daughters who confessed and revelled the details of how their father called out for help from them
-Edited by SKanyara
