A Dutchman charged with forgery and defilement on Friday asked the court to release him on bond.
Hans Vriens’ bail had been cancelled after he failed to attend hearings. The court said he would be denied bond in the defilement charge until the victims, who are key prosecution witnessed, testify.
One victim has already testified.
On Friday, defence lawyer Mbuvi Katunga said the accused did not abscond court session but was ailing and in hospital.
Katunga presented medical reports indicating his client was admitted to Royal Community Hospital in Mombasa for four weeks from April 27. Katunga said Vriens was on bed rest. But state counsel Susan Kuruga rejected Katunga’s claims.
She said there was mix-up in the names in court documents and those in the hospital documents.
In court, the suspect is charged as Hans Vriens while the medical report says he is Hans Egon.
Karuga said the investigating officer must confirm that the document belongs to the accused before it can be admitted in court.
Vriens is accused of defiling girls aged between eight and 14 between 2011 and 2014. The 66-year-old retired lawyer is accused of defiling a 10-year-old girl on different dates at an apartment in Roysambu, Nairobi.
He is said to have defiled the minor on diverse dates in 2011 in the same area, the charge sheet shows.
Prosecutors said Vriens duped the children’s mothers that he would sponsor the their education at his school in Yatta, Kitui county.
The children are said to have been given Sh100 each after every sexual encounter. The suspect allegedly threatened to kill them if they reported him. Vriens has denied the charges.
According to the prosecution, some of the defiled minors lured others to Vriens house. The suspect sent a mother of two girls to buy him snacks so he could get an opportunity to defile the girls before she returned. The woman was also given cash to buy three pigs after proposing to Vriens that she wanted to start an agribusiness.
Prosecutors said Vriens took pictures of himself during the acts with the minors. The parents discovered there was a problem after one of the children refused to greet the suspect when they met him inside the Thika Road Mall on two occasions.
Magistrate Caroline Nzibe denied the suspect bond on November 2 when he took the plea after DCI opposed the application.
Detective Paul Aboge of the Transnational Organised Crime and Child Protection Unit said Vriens is likely to abscond court if granted bond.
“The respondent went into hiding for the last six months and changed his known residence and could not be traced even by his mobile phone number,” Aboge said.
Principal magistrate Peter Ooko will on Monday rule on whether to reinstate the bond granted in the forgery case.
Should the bond be granted, Vriens will remain in custody until all the victims testify.