Caracas, Venezuela: A Kenyan court has found a Venezuelan diplomat guilty of killing the Latin American country’s acting ambassador at her residence in a posh Nairobi neighborhood almost ten years ago.
Olga Fonseca was killed in July 2012, and Dwight Sagaray, the embassy’s first secretary, was held responsible for the crime, according to Judge Roselyn Korir’s decision on Wednesday.
The court also found guilty three Kenyan citizens indicted alongside Sagaray, claiming they had collaborated on a murderous scheme.
The court ruled that the arrest warrant for another suspect should continue to be in effect even though he fled the crime scene.
When the verdict was delivered, Sagaray, dressed in a suit and tie in the dock, clutched his hands and put them to his face. The court decided that Sagaray might face criminal charges for the murder since Venezuela had revoked his diplomatic immunity after the incident.
Less than two weeks after arriving in Nairobi for her mission, Fonseca, 57, was discovered murdered in her bedroom. Her appointment came after the former ambassador abruptly left the country after being accused of sexual harassment by his domestic staff.
The court found that Sagaray, who had been in charge of the mission before Fonseca’s entrance, was enraged by her presence because he wanted to keep managing the embassy.
There is evidence that he attempted to obstruct Fonseca’s capacity to succeed as the head of the embassy before she was slain, Korir said, adding that he planned to be the primary benefactor of the crime.
According to the evidence, it is obvious that the first accused [Sagaray] fought Ms. Fonseca’s attempt to take control of the embassy, according to Korir, who was quoted by the local newspaper The Nation.
The judge stated that Sagaray and his accomplice would be sentenced later.
