The chief suspect in the murder of German national Detering Hermann, Mary Mwikali Kavuu is set to undergo a mental assessment test before she can take a plea.
This after the chief prosecuting counsel in the case Barbara Sombo told Malindi high court Judge Justice Reuben Nyakundi that the suspect who has been in custody for the past three weeks is yet to undergo mental assessment.
”We pray that the accused be remanded at the Mtangani Maximum prison for the mental assessment to be done in Mombasa on February 24 and be taken back to court on February 25,” She said.
Sombo also told the court the psychiatrist who conducts the tests is based at the Coast Provincial general hospital in Mombasa and only conducts the tests on Monday.
Kavuu was arrested on 30th January in Diani area of Kwale county just two days after the body of the 78-year-old German national was found in a pool of blood on the floor of one of the rooms at the Moreima cottages in Malindi town.
Kavuu is expected to be charged with murder contrary to section 204 of the penal code.
The prosecution has lined up five witnesses among them Kelly Kazungu, the hotel receptionist who found the deceased’s body.
A second suspect, Kenson Mutiso who was arrested alongside Kavuu in Diani is also expected to testify in the murder case.
According to a sworn affidavit filed in court by police constable Vincent Langat attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters Serious crime Unit, Homicide section Nairobi, Mwikali had called Mutiso on 28th January just a few hours before the German national’s body was found lying in a pool of blood.
”Immediately after the incident the first respondent switched off her phone after calling the second respondent- Mutiso and thereafter switched on the phone while in Diani,” said the detective.
The deceased who was a father of one had left Diani for Malindi on the 4th of December 2019 where Mwikali would occasionally visit him according to police.
