- Candiru Shifa will remain in police custody pending trial for allegedly assaulting Saadia Mohamed.
- The accused grabbed Saadia by the neck from behind and started strangling her.
Image: CLAUSE MASIKA
A Ugandan woman charged with strangling her employer’s neighbour and beating her up after a short argument has been locked up in police cells.
Candiru Shifa will remain in police custody pending trial for allegedly assaulting Saadia Mohamed occasioning her bodily harm on January 14 in South C, Nairobi.
She had pleaded guilty to assault before Kibera senior resident magistrate Renee Kitagwa but disputed some of the court facts, prompting the magistrate to enter a plea of not guilty against her.
She told the court that some of the facts read by the prosecution were true but others were false.
Prosecutor Ann Kirimi had told the court that Hassan wanted to pick her children’s clothes from a heap at the rooftop of an apartment she lives in and that formed the basis of the conflict.
The court heard that Shifa, who worked as a house help in the neighborhood, had placed her phone on the clothes and warned Saadia not to touch it.
She cautioned her that she would beat her thoroughly if she dared touch it.
After a few minutes, a brief exchange of angry words occurred and Shifa grabbed Saadia by the neck from behind and started strangling her.
As a result, Saadia fell down and Shifa jumped on top of her and continued strangling her until she could not breathe well. Saadia also sustained some injuries during the attack.
Kirimi informed the court that the accused later took a piece of metal pipe and hit the complainant three times on the head as she screamed for help.
Saadia was rescued by neighbours who heard her crying out for help.
The prosecution provided the court with a P3 form that showed the degree of injuries sustained by the complainant as examined by a physician.
The incident was reported to the police and Shifa was arrested and charged with being unlawfully present in Kenya beside the assault charges.
She pleaded guilty to being in the country illegally and the magistrate fined her fined Sh10,000.
The court directed the assault case to proceed to the full trial and ordered that the accused person be remanded at Lang’ata police station.
Edited by Henry Makori