A German national charged with theft of agrochemical farm inputs worth Sh3.4 million has been released on a Sh10 million cash bail by an Eldoret court.
Alexander Hergen, who has been in police custody for the last eight days was released Monday by Eldoret Senior Resident Magistrate Richard Odenyo, who said the prosecution had not presented enough evidence to warrant the continued detention of the accused person.
The magistrate granted the prosecution’s request that the accused deposits his passport with the court pending hearing and determination of his case, in the event he was granted bond.
Hergen denied stealing the farm products that were in his custody. He allegedly committed the offense between September 2017 and February 2018 at Rosendahi farm in Moiben area of Uasin Gishu County.
The accused was represented by lawyers Elijah Ayieko and Reece Mukhabane, who accused the police of misleading the court that their client was planning to flee the country when he was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport so that they could continue detaining him.
The German citizen was arrested at the airport by officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations as he waited for a flight to his home country.
The detectives have been trailing the accused since 2017 when he went underground to evade arrest, after he was linked to stealing the farm inputs at a local company where he had been employed as a manager.
The investigating officer Isaac Koskei had earlier opposed the release of the accused on bail telling the court that the accused was planning to flee the country after being tipped off that he was faced with arrest.
Koskei pleaded with the court not to grant him bail, since the accused was a flight risk considering that he was not a Kenyan citizen.
The defense argued that their client had no intention of fleeing the country, as he is ready and willing to abide by all conditions the court would impose. The case will be heard on 28th January 2020.
