The High Court on Wednesday convicted Venezuelan diplomat Dwight Sagaray alongside three Kenyans of the murder of Olga Fonseca, the acting Venezuelan Ambassador to Kenya, in July 2012.

Sagaray was at the time a first secretary at the Venezuelan embassy in Runda estate, Nairobi and wielded a lot of powers and was in effect the official in charge of the consulate.

57-year-old Fonseca was found to have been strangled at her official residence on July 27, 2012, in what is believed to have been a result of ugly power struggles within the embassy.

Security guard Kipng'eno Chelogoi, the fifth accused in the case, was acquitted despite being found with Fonseca’s mobile phone as there was no evidence linking him to the murder.

It was established in court that the said killers received a sum of Sh468,000 from one Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, a Kenyan said to be the mastermind but remains at large, to murder her.

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She was brutally killed only a fortnight after reporting to Nairobi taking over from Gerardo Carrillo-Silva, who left Kenya in huff due to claims of sexual harassment by embassy staff.

Dwight Sagaray. PHOTO/COURTESY

During the murder trial that lasted 10 years and got global attention, the prosecution presented 37 witnesses and 39 pieces of evidence in the murder trial that lasted 10 years.

Former police officer Moses Kiprotich Kalya was also convicted together with Sagaray after he was linked to the murder plot that was executed by three people, including Mohamed.

Justice Roseline Korir heard that Mohamed, who presented himself at the embassy as a nephew to then Defence Cabinet Minister Yusuf Haji and acting Internal Security Minister.

The court was not able to establish if indeed Mohamed was in any way related to the late Haji but Justice Korir criticized the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), then headed by Keriako Tobiko, for failing to execute an arrest warrant against him.

The mastermind of the murder plot is reported to have presented himself as a very powerful government official and worked very closely with Sagaray at the Venezuelan embassy.

“Kevi Lamek PW2 also testified that the first accused lived in the ambassador’s residence with Mohamed, who was not an employee of the embassy but whom they knew as a nephew to Yusuf Haji, then a prominent official,” said Justice Korir in her ruling.

She went on, “Zipporah PW9 and Angela Mwadeghu PW10, Peter Mbusi PW15 all told the court that the first accused and Mohamed lived in the embassy residence. Alice Mukami told the court that Mohamed presented himself as an official of the embassy and lived in the residence.”

Moses Kiprotich, Alex Sifuma, Ahmed Omindo and and Dwight Sagary. 

Fonseca was killed after four planning meeting were held by Hassan, Kalya, Ahmed Mutivane Omido and Alex Sifuma Wanyonyi at Java Gigiri, Garden Square, Maggie's Pub and Total Petrol Station Muthaiga all in Nairobi.

Sagaray was opposed to Fonseca’s arrival in Nairobi due to his interest in key diplomatic posting and together with Mohamed they had been controlling things at the embassy.

The body of the Venezuelan ambassador to Kenya was discovered by a worker on her bed and a wire cord found tied around her neck, hands and legs on July 27, 2012 in the morning.