Kenya Stockholm Blog

According to Police investigations, the late Juliet Kavinga, a Kenyan citizen whose body was found floating at Lake Mälaren in the outskirts of Stockholm in August this year, was shot in the back at close range by her Swedish boyfriend before her body was packed in a tarpaulin and dumped at Ekerö. Juliet was seven months pregnant at the time of her death.

When the case came up for mentioning in court early this week, the Chief prosecutor, Tora Holst, told the court that the motive of the murder was based on the fact that Juliet had refused to conduct an abortion as had been demanded by her boyfriend.

A witness who was close to Juliet and who was interviewed by police said that she knew that the child Juliet was carrying had been fathered by the accused and that she also knew that the boyfriend did not want Juliet to carry the pregnancy to term.

A report from a pre-natal clinic at Upplandsväsby which Juliet visited on 8th March 2005 indicated that Juliet said that the father of the child she was carrying lived in Farsta and that she was 20 weeks pregnant.

A section of Juliet’s medical journal which was recovered by police indicated that the accused was the father of Juliet’s expected child. Juliet’s expected date of delivery was placed at 25th July 2005.

60 TELEPHONE CONTACTS
Evidence gathered by police indicate that Juliet was shot in the back with a hunting gun that was licensed to her suspected murderer while the date of the murder has been placed at 13th May 2005.

A phone log of Juliet’s telephone indicated that between March 21st 2005 and 13th May 2005 when Juliet was allegedly killed, her former boyfriend facing trial had a total of 60 telephone contacts with her.

The last telephone contact Juliet had the same day she was murdered was at 16.22 and was received at the transmission mast at Farstastrand. The accused lived in Farsta and according to police investigations, Juliet was already inside the house of the accused when she received the last recorded phone call. The first call she received after arriving at Farsta on the material day was at 15.11 while at 15.12, she received an SMS.

The police report says that after Juliet was killed, her murderer wrapped her head in a plastic bag from the Konsum supermarket chain probably to conceal her face and to prevent blood that was oozing from her mouth from spilling over. Police recovered a receipt from the house of the accused which indicated that he had bought foodstuff together with two plastic bags at Konsum supermarket at Farsta on the afternoon of 13th May 2005, the same day Juliet was allegedly killed.  

TARPAULINE PURCHASED FROM CLAES OLSSON
When Juliet’s body was found floating at Lake Mälaren, it was packed in a green tarpaulin. According to police investigations, a receipt that was recovered from Claes Olsson chain of supermarkets at Farsta centrum (the same area where the accused lived) revealed that a green and white tarpaulin was purchased at the supermarket with the purchaser paying cash. A blue rope, a white cover and a hook that were all used to pack Juliet’s body were among the items that were purchased from the supermarket on the 14th of May 2005 at 15.57, a day after Juliet was allegedly murdered. The finding led police to believe that it was the accused who made the purchases and later used them to pack Juliet’s body after she was murdered.

According to investigations, the accused withdrew 9.000 kr on 14th May 2005 at an Automatic Teller Machine at Farsta between 16.05 and 16.06. Further, Police recovered a huge amount of money from the house of the accused while it was also established that the accused had borrowed 100.000 kr which was deposited in the account of the accused by City Bank on the 13th of May 2005, the same day Juliet was allegedly murdered. Some of the cash recovered was in foreign currency and this discovery led police to believe that the accused might have prepared to leave the country at very short notice.

ACCUSED HIRED A LORRY WITH A BACK LIFT
Further investigations revealed that on the 14th of May 2005, the accused hired a small lorry with a back lift for luggage and that during the period when the lorry was under the custody of the accused, it was driven a total of 130 Km.

The implication is that the accused must have used the lorry to transport the body. A tape which was used to wrap the body also resembled a tape that was recovered in the house of the accused.

The police recovered a piece of hair on the tarpaulin that was used to wrap Juliets body. The police report says that the Mitochondria from the DNA of the piece of hair that was recovered from the tarpaulin resembled that of the accused. What this means is that the accused must have been in touch with the body between the time of death and the time of dumping at Lake Mälaren.

A witness told police that when Juliet left her apartment the last day she was seen alive, she told a friend she was residing with that she wasn’t going to stay for long. The report said that Juliet left food in the fridge and fruits, something she never used to do when she intended to be away for long. Juliet left the house after receiving a phone call which police investigations confirmed, was from the accused.

JULIET’S TELEPHONE WENT DEAD AFTER 13TH MAY 2005
A huge amount of money and clothes belonging to Juliet were recovered at the house where Juliet last lived in Skogås. This suggested to police that her intention when she left the house was not to be away for a long period of time.

A pocket calendar that belonged to Juliet and which was recovered by police indicated that Juliet met her Swedish boyfriend in August 2004, moved in to live with him in December 2004 and moved out in January 2005.

Investigations revealed that Juliet’s wall calendar, pocket calendar and pregnancy calendar had entries up to the 19th week of 2005, the same period when she is suspected to have been murdered.

After her last telephone contact with the accused, Juliet’s telephone went dead, either because the phone was at a location where it could not receive signals or because it was switched off.  The case continues on Tuesday October 31st.

Okoth Osewe
makosewe@gmail.com