Four police officers attached to DCI Langata charged with robbery with violence have been released on a bond of Ksh300,000 each.
Appearing before Milimani Law Courts, the officers Antony Mwanza, Cornelius Wambua, Tom Omondi Otieno and Kennedy Odero pleaded not guilty to the charges of abducting a man at NextGen Mall along Mombasa road in Langata on February 6, 2022, at around noon and forcefully demanded money from him.
The prosecution informed the court that on the material day, the officers were armed with AK47 rifles and two Ceska pistols when they robbed the complainant Vincent Odembo Ksh2,400 and Ksh40,000.
It is said that officers upon abducting Odembo using a Subaru forced him to send Ksh40,000 from the victim’s Mpesa account.
They then proceeded to the victim’s apartment where they took a further Ksh272,000 from him, before dumping him at Choma Zone located at Total petrol station along Mombasa Road, after a 2-hour ordeal.
After denying the charges through lawyers Danstan Omari and Shadrack Wambui, the four officers asked the court to grant them very reasonable bail terms after the prosecution told court that they were not opposing bail.
The defence lawyers informed the court that the officers were constables attached to Langata and their salaries cannot allow them to pay heavy cash bail terms
Omari further said the first accused Mwanza earns Sh 18,000 which is very little and he won’t be able to raise a huge sum of bail.
Omari also said that the defence was looking for an out of court settlement between their clients and the complainant.
Chief Magistrate Wendy Micheni said she had considered all the submissions by the defence and noted that the offence was serious and has a death penalty sentence if found guilty.
She released them on a Ksh500,00 bond or an alternative cash bail of Ksh300,000 and two contact persons.
The case will be mentioned on March 3 for pre-trial and confirmation of whether the parties have agreed to have the matter settled out of court.
