A suspect linked to the killing of three women from Eastleigh, Nairobi, was Monday presented before a court.
He appeared before Makadara Law Courts, where a magistrate allowed police to detain him for nine days pending a police probe.
Police said they are still hunting for the main suspect in the murder of Amina Abdirashid, her aunt, Waris Dahabo Daud, and her niece, Nusayba Abdi Mohammed, from Eastleigh in Nairobi.
Police did not allow journalists into the courtroom, arguing they had not conducted an identification parade on the suspect, which is key in a murder probe.
The court ruled it was important for investigators to finalise the probe and establish if the man was linked to the same.
The husband to Waris recorded his statement with the police on Monday. A man wanted for the murder had called the family of the victims to demand a ransom for their release.
Detectives say investigations show the suspect is from Ethiopia’s Somalia region and had illegally obtained a Kenyan identification card.
He also served as a regional police officer in Ethiopia before he was arrested and jailed over claims of murder of his wife.
He later fled to Kenya, where he set up a base and started a taxi business in Eastleigh and Parklands. the man is wanted for grilling over the murder of Amina Abdirashid, her aunt, Waris Dahabo Daud, and her niece, Nusayba Abdi Mohammed, from Eastleigh in Nairobi.
Police believe he knew the slain woman and has been involved in the extortion business in the city in the past.
Investigations conducted so far have established that the suspect, 24, was driving the Nissan Note car captured on CCTV cameras picking the victims from their Eastleigh home on October 21, 2024, hours before their bodies were discovered scattered at various locations.
The vehicle was also found abandoned at Wakulima Market and towed to DCI Headquarters for forensic examination, further linking the suspect to the killings.
“With one suspect in custody and assisting in the investigation, we appeal to anyone who may have information that could assist in the arrest of the suspect to #FichuakwaDCI by calling our toll-free hotline, 0800 722 203 or report at any police station,” the DCI said.
He has been placed at the crime scene of a house where the women were brutally murdered. The women were buried Saturday at the Lang’ata Cemetery in Nairobi.
Police said preliminary investigations show the three were killed in a dispute over a ransom demand by their abductors. The suspect is said to have contacted a relative of the Waris in London demanding a ransom, but the relative dismissed him.
This angered the man then turned brutal and killed them. Police are talking to at least four persons of interest. They include guards of an apartment where the murder incident took place, the owner of the apartment and a suspected accomplice.
A suspect and a survivor of the murder have told police the killers had demanded ransom from the women but became brutal when they realized the victims had identified them.
Detectives are interrogating a woman who claims she was abducted and detained with the three slain women.
The woman alleged she was also abducted by the same killers as the three slain women.
She alleges that she was abducted along with the three victims and was held in the same room where they were locked up for hours. She told police she heard the killers argue the slain women had identified them which was dangerous and would expose them.
The abductors, according to the woman, demanded a ransom to release them, and her family managed to raise USD7,000 (Sh1 million), which was deposited into an Ethiopian bank account.
The Ethiopian authorities have been contacted for help.
On October 21, 2024, Waris Dahabo Daud Said, 38, Amina Abdirashid Dahir, 22 and Nusayba Abdi Mohammed, 12, went missing before their bodies with stab wounds were discovered on October 22, 2024, at around 6 am at different locations.
The bodies of Nusayba, Amina and Dahabo were found at Bahati in Makadara, 6th Avenue Parklands, and Khyumbi, in Machakos, respectively, with the hands of Dohabo chopped off.
On October 23, two human hands were recovered at South C along Five-Star Road, police said.
A postmortem exercise conducted on the bodies of the women on Friday, October 25, showed Waris had her neck severed, her hands chopped off and was tortured.
Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor said Amina Abdirashid Dahir died of a stabbing.
“The stab wound went to the heart. We believe she died out of stabbing,” said Oduor.
