Three people suspected to be behind a spate of abductions were on Monday charged with committing kidnappings and robberies in four counties.
The three, Godfrey Njeru, Caroline Kairu and Caroline Mueni also faced charges of stealing, stupefying and extortion before Senior resident magistrate Erick Analo at the Murang’a law court.
They were accused of perpetrating the offences in Nairobi, Murang’a, Kiambu and Nakuru counties and were arrested in Kangema town in Murang’a, on Friday following the abduction of two women.
The three denied the charges, with prosecutor Edwin Muindi asking the court to deny them bond saying they were a flight risk.
Muindi also expressed concerns that the suspects would interfere with the witnesses if released on bond. But their lawyer Carol Macharia opposed the prosecution’s request saying they have a constitutional right to be granted bail.
The court ordered they be remanded for seven days pending the determination of their bail application as the court awaits the probation report and be produced in court on May 20.
The suspects were arrested while buying groceries in Kangema town after one of the victims helped police officers to identify them.
The victim, Irene Muthoni, said they approached her while she was waiting for a matatu at Kabuta in Kiharu constituency, offering to give her a ride to Murang’a town where she was heading.
In the car, they revealed they were criminals and demanded that she calls her family members to send Sh50,000 failure to which they would kill her and dump her body in a dam.
Muthoni said at some point, they took her parents’ phone numbers and started calling them using their mobile phones.
"But when my parents took too long to send the ransom, they suspected that they were liaising with the police and dropped me off at Kanorero in Kangema where police officers found me as they trailed them.”
Among the things recovered from their car was the mobile phone used to contact the victim’s family and money believed to have been extorted during a previous ordeal.
The previous day, another victim Hellen Nyambura, was approached by one of the suspects at Kiangage shopping centre.
She said the suspect was holding something that looked like a gun and forced her into a black saloon car before driving towards Kenol town where they forced her to withdraw Sh20,000 from an ATM, after calling her parents and husband demanding for more money and threatening to kill her.
"When I told them my husband was a casual worker and did not have any money, they said I was stupid for marrying a broke man," she said.
Her father sent Sh40,000 and the suspects then dumped her at Kambiti along Kenol Sagana dual carriageway.
