‘Facebook killer’ arraigned in court for murder charge
A man who allegedly killed a 26-year-old he met on Facebook on their first date was on Thursday arraigned but did not plead to a murder charge.
The suspect, Richard Nyakina Ogoko, who allegedly killed Ms Lydia Nyaboke — an M-Pesa attendant at a city shop — did not plead to any charge because he is yet to be allocated a State lawyer to represent him.
He appeared before High Court Judge James Wakiaga, who directed that the prosecution should ensure he is represented by a State lawyer when he takes a plea on September 9.
“The accused should be allocated a State counsel then this matter can come up for plea taking.”
When he was first arraigned before Resident Magistrate Sinkiyian Tobiko, he was detained for one week at Kilimani police station to allow investigating officers complete their investigations into the murder incident following his arrest on August 18 in Kisii.
He is accused of killing his girlfriend, whom he met in person for the first time on July 23 in Nairobi.
FATEFUL DAY
They allegedly found each other on Facebook and their friendship on social media blossomed into love.
On the fateful day of their first date, the couple went on a picnic at Ngong Hills.
Prior to the meeting, it is alleged the suspect contacted the woman through her mobile phone number and convinced her that he knew her very well because they hail from the same village in Kisii.
They had communicated on several occasions on the phone before meeting that day.
However, the woman’s phone went off and she could not be reached by any of her relatives or those who knew her.
ARRESTED
Her phone was traced to Kisii where the suspect was arrested by police after her family reported her disappearance at the Pangani and Ngong police stations.
On his arrest in Ekero, Kisii County, he allegedly confessed to having killed Ms Nyaboke and even took the police to a thicket in Dagoretti near Mutuini Secondary School, where her lifeless body was found.
He told police officers that he hit her on the head, suffocated her and then used her clothes to strangle her to death.
A postmortem confirmed the cause of death was strangulation.
The suspect uses a photo on his Facebook account which shows an image of a different person and the profile has many women friends as compared to men.
Prior to this murder incident, he was out on bond because he has another pending criminal case.
