Dutch tycoon's murder case pushed to October 2025
Coast
By
Kelvin Karani
| Jul 25, 2025
The trial for the murder of a Dutch tycoon, Rowenhorst Herman, and his security guard, Evans Bokoro, has been pushed to October 2025 following the start of the judges' recess.
The wife of the tycoon, Riziki Cherono, and her alleged accomplice, Timothy Omondi, are accused of killing the tycoon on June 4, 2021.
Yesterday, the prosecutor Benard Ngiri asked the court to set a new trial date before the courts go for recess, but the high court’s diary was full with other matters and the forthcoming recess.
In the last hearing, Corporal Richard Cheruiyot told Mombasa High Court Judge Wendy Micheni that Cherono tried to play victim after her alleged planning and facilitation of the gruesome murder.
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The officer told the high court that they found Cherono tied to her car's steering wheel by a well-wisher to show that she had been kidnapped from the house by robbers.
Cherono and Omondi are charged with killing the Dutch tycoon Herman and his security guard Bokoro at their apartment in Shanzu in Mombasa.
The widow appeared before Justice Ong’ijo and denied the charges.
The prosecution and witnesses opine that Cherono planned, procured, and facilitated the perpetrators who killed the husband and the security man.
Cheruiyot told the High Court that when police arrived at Shanzu near Serena, they found a Probox parked and six men and one woman standing outside the car.
He said the lady was leaning on the vehicle. He said he had the vehicle hooting continuously, and upon nearing it, he found Cherono tied inside the vehicle.
“I later realised that it was Riziki. She told me that she drove that vehicle from their Roco apartments at gunpoint by thieves who invaded their home,” he testified.
The officer said that Cherono told him that five people had invaded their home, with three masked and two not masked.
He said Cherono claimed that the unmasked man was light-skinned and was demanding money from her husband, the late Herman.
The officer told the high court that he questioned Cherono if she had tried to know if her husband was safe after the good Samaritans untied her.
"She claimed that she was with her husband’s mobile phone and that she could not call him," the police officer told the judge.
It was when Cheruyot took Cherono home that they found Herman with only his underwear on, lying in a pool of blood with his hands and legs tied and mouth covered.
He said the late tycoon also had a deformed cheek. The officer told the court that there was some splash of blood on the pillow beside where the late Herman was lying.
“Riziki left the room screaming, and then I heard the children screaming too. All along, I knew Riziki was just a victim and not the murderer,” said Cheruyot.
He said that Khamis Bambo, the caretaker, told them that he had reported the matter at the police stations. Khamis said it's Riziki who instructed him to report the case.
Cheruyot said Khamis informed them that the body of Bokoro, a night guard, had been dumped at the poolside, and they found him while struggling for breath.
The officer said he tried asking for help from some of the security guards at the gate, but Cherono offered to take Evans to the hospital.
Cheruiyot, however, told Justice Wendy that after he called Cherono, she informed him that Bokoro had died at the hospital.