• The suspect shocked the court when she admitted to having killed the chief officer but said she had not intended to.
• She was arrested on July 25, in Busia while she was attempting to cross to Uganda.
Image: ELIAS YAA
The house help suspect in the murder of Kilifi Fisheries and Blue Economy chief officer Rahab Karisa on Thursday was arraigned in Kilifi.
She admitted to stabbing her and said her employer owed her Sh500 payment.
The prosecution requested 14 days to establish her identity. At the time of her arrest, the suspect did not carry have any identification and she has been using her aunt's ID card.
A DCI brief identified her as Diana Naliaka, alias Saraha Nekesa Barasa.
Naliaka appeared before Kilifi senior principal magistrate Justus Kituku who did not object to more time to establish her legal identity.
In a sworn affidavit by constable Harrisson Mayaka, the police requested to detain her to take DNA samples, carry out a psychiatric examination, a forensic analysis of the evidence and establish the suspect's legal identity.
Police said she is a flight risk and want her detained as she has no known fixed place of residence.
She was arrested on July 25, in Busia while she was attempting to cross to Uganda.
The suspect shocked the court when she admitted to having killed the chief officer but said she had not intended to take her life.
"I have something to say. We had a misunderstanding after I asked her for my money. She had just returned from outside the country. I killed her but I did not intend to," she said.
"Let us not go to the details of what happened. I just wanted to know if you understood the request by the prosecution (on detention)," Kituku said.
The case will be mentioned on August 17.
According to court documents, on Tuesday evening, the suspect quarreled with the deceased over the money she (the victim) had left in her bedroom.
"The deceased suffered a painful death after being inflicted with a deep stab wound on the upper left side of her back with a sharp object leading her to lose a lot of blood," the police report said.
"In the wee hours of Wednesday, July 20, the respondent allegedly after performing the act [stabbing] warned one of the witnesses she would suffer the same fate as the deceased if she dared raise an alarm," it said
Rahab was found dead on the morning of Wednesday, July 20, in her Mnarani apartment in Kilifi. Her body was on the floor beside her bed.
The knife suspected to have been used for the murder was found beside her.
Rahab will be buried on Saturday in Vihiga county.