Three former Kenya Defence Forces soldiers charged with car theft and robbery with violence have each been sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
Kibera senior principal magistrate Esther Boke convicted James Mbagi, Kelvin Muriithi and Jackson Nthange after she found them guilty of the offense.
They were arrested after a report was filed at the Director of Criminal Investigations in Ngong.
The military veterans were accused of committing the first offense in November 2013 along Ongata Rongai- Kiserian road.
Armed with a pistol and pretending to be traffic officers, they stopped David Miamo for inspection before ordering everyone in the car to get out and lie down.
They then took the keys and drove off.
The trio was also charged with possessing a firearm without a genuine certificate, contrary to the law.
In a separate incident, a taxi operator told the court the accused persons asked him to take them to a market centre and on the way, took him to a nearby bush and robbed him.
Afterwards, he reported the incident to the police.
On the account of robbery with violence, they were charged with stealing Sh50,000 from Janet Gesare after breaking into her shop.
They also threatened to kill her.
The prosecution called several witnesses who testified in the matter.
Bernard Marete, an officer attached to the DCI, testified that a parade was conducted which led to the identification of the accused persons.
He told the court the accused had been linked to other criminal activities and were under the radar of police.
A conductor, Joshua Mawane, who witnessed the Ongata Rongai vehicle robbery told the court that upon arriving at the scene, he was ordered to lie down and threatened with death if he dared shout.
In their defense, the trio jointly denied the charges and told the court they were not at the scenes of the crimes as alleged.
They said that they were conducting their normal activities when they were ambushed and arrested.
The soldiers informed the court they had families and children requesting consideration before sentencing.
On her ruling, however, Boke said the prosecution had proved the case against them.
The magistrate said the identification parade successfully proved that the accused committed the offense.
She said she had considered both their submission and mitigations before sentencing.
She gave them 14 days to appeal.
Edited by N. Mbugua
