Kenya: Venezuela Ambassador Murdered in Runda
Posted by African Press International on August 2, 2012
The Police officials in Nairobi have been conducting a thorough investigation at the residence of the late Olga Fonseca, Ambassador to Kenya.
The body of Fonseca was discovered in her bedroom on Saturday morning. Police received information about her death from Embassy officials who had gone to her house to pick her up and drop her at her office in Gigiri. The Police also collected a bottle of Johnnie Walker whiskey, which the diplomat and the suspected killer or killers could have shared moments before Fonseca was found dead at her residence in Runda.
When Fonseca had not emerged from her bedroom by 10 am, security guards and diplomatic police officers who guard the ambassador’s residence went to check on her, they discovered she was dead with a noose around her neck and visible bruises on her wrists. Investigators also noted that her mobile phone was used to send a text message to a staff member at her office informing them she would would not be going to the office, because she was feeling tired.
Investigators also suspect the SMS, which was not delivered to the intended recipient, was aimed at concealing the murder. Informed sources said that the ambassador could have been killed in her sitting room and dragged to the bedroom, where the noose was tied around her neck.
Sources also believe that her killers may have raped her before killing her. Four domestic workers are in police custody.
Nairobi police boss Anthony Kibuchi said the postmortem will be carried out to find out the cause of death. Some Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials also visited her home.
Ambassador Fonseca’s death comes less then a week after local staff at the Venezuelan embassy, filed a complaint with the Diplomatic Police Unit after being threatened with sacking if they did not withdraw sexual harassment reports filed against the former ambassador Gerardo Carillo Silva. Two male employees working at Mr.Silva’s home in Runda complained that the diplomat had exposed himself, grabbed their genitals and chased them around the house while naked. The embassy residence is just opposite the Diplomatic Police Unit in Gigiri and close to the main Gigiri Police Station. According to reports by the Star, a Kenyan newspaper, the Venezuelan government suspended Silva and appointed Fonseca to replace him.
The former ambassador has already left the country despite the serious charges he faces. Fonseca had also clashed with some of her domestic workers after she sacked them over what she had described as "insubordination".
By Elizabeth Koikai
