Kenyan woman arrested over alleged murder of Sudanese man  

AMMAN —   The Criminal Court prosecutor on Monday was questioning a Kenyan woman in connection with the alleged murder of a 31-year-old Sudanese refugee in downtown Amman a day earlier, official sources said. 

The victim identified by officials as Bakri H., who owned a barbershop with an Iraqi man, was found dead at his house in the downtown area on Sunday, a senior judicial source who is close to the investigations said. 

“Our initial investigation indicated that the Kenyan woman who resided with the victim was the prime suspect in the incident,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times. 

The judicial source said investigators are “looking for a motive behind the murder”.

 “We questioned the woman and she did not deny killing the suspect but told us that 'maybe' she did it. So we still have no clear motive behind the murder,” the judicial source said. 

Most likely the suspect will be charged with murder, the judicial source maintained, but “we are waiting on lab results and are questioning more people and witnesses in the case”.  

A postmortem conducted by a team of pathologists at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine indicated that the victim died of strangulation, a senior medical source said. 

“Blood and tissue samples taken from the victim were sent to the criminal lab for further analysis,” the medical source told The Jordan Times.

A close friend to the victim told The Jordan Times that the victim, who has been registered as a refuge at UNHCR since 2013, was "liked by everyone who knew him". 

“He was a friend to everyone who knew him. He was very kind and all the men knew him because we always went to his shop,” the close friend, who preferred not be identified, told The Jordan Times.

A second friend also said that “it is rare to find someone with his quality because he is like a brother to us”. 

“His saloon is a place for us to meet and talk about issues that concern us.  He also tries to help everyone in any way possible, and would even give the needy money to help them,” the second friend told The Jordan Times.

Both men expressed their shock over the incident stressing that "Bakri had no enemies and was always loved by everyone".

An official at the Sudanese embassy in Amman told The Jordan Times that the embassy is following up on the incident with the Jordanian authorities.  

“We have strong faith in the Jordanian authorities and are hopeful they will reach a conclusion in this case and inform us,” the official said. 

The official added that the next of kin in Sudan were notified about the death and “we are waiting on his family’s decision whether to bury him here or in Sudan”.