A defence lawyer for a British business
executive who was charged on Friday with the murder of a Kenyan woman has
denied a previous account which suggested she had died while taking
"selfies with a gun" that accidentally went off.
| British businessman Richard Alden, 53, arrested on suspicion of the murder of Grace Kinyanjui at his house in Karen, stands inside the dock at the Kibera Law Courts outside the Nairobi, Kenya, June 6, 2016. |
Another lawyer, Evans Monari, who is no longer defending
businessman Richard Alden, 52, gave the "selfies" account on Monday
when the Briton was remanded in custody pending further investigations into the
death of Grace Wangeci, 42.
"The selfie story
is not consistent with the statement recorded by Richard Alden at the police
station," a current member of the defence team, lawyer Tom Okundi, told
Reuters. He could not explain how that version had emerged.
He said Alden pleaded
not guilty to the murder charge and would seek bail at a hearing on June 16.
Okundi said he could not for now give further details about the case.
"Richard has cooperated and continues to
cooperate with the police in the investigation," Okundi said in a separate
statement.
Lawyer
Monari, who had said on Monday that Wangeci died accidentally while
"taking selfies with a gun", directed enquiries to the defence team
when contacted on Friday.
In
his bail application, Alden said he had taken Wangeci to hospital and had
called the police, citing these as reasons why he was not a flight risk,
according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.
Alden,
who lives in the upscale Karen district of the capital Nairobi, is married with
three children.
Reuters
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