- The MP is to be charged with illegal possession of a firearm and bullets, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, hate speech and offensive conduct.
- He will be held at the Nakuru Central police station until Wednesday when the magistrate will rule on the miscellaneous application seeking to detain him.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi will remain behind bars for two more days at the Nakuru Central police station pending a bail application ruling.
Sudi was presented before Nakuru chief magistrate Josephat Kalo on Monday on a miscellaneous application seeking to hold him for 14 days to allow completion of investigations.
The prosecution, led by Daniel Karuri, sought more time to complete investigations into the crimes allegedly committed by the legislator.
The state, in an affidavit sworn by investigating officer James Akello, said a statement was yet to be recorded from the MP, who on Sunday turned himself in at the Langas police station and subsequently flown to Nakuru.
He had evaded arrest for 48 hours.
Karuri objected to his release on bond, saying he was being investigated for hate speech, assault of a police officer, offensive conduct, unlawful possession of firearm and bullets and resisting arrest.
He said police officers had gone to the MP’s home on Friday but were unable to arrest him following resistance by residents inside and outside his home.
“The police found a firearm, a Ceska pistol with 11 rounds of ammunition inside a car outside his house and they require time for forensic investigation into who owns the gun and vehicle and whether the firearm is licensed,” Karuri said.
He said the respondent is a flight risk having failed to surrender himself soon after he learnt he was being sought by the police.
Karuri cited countrywide demonstrations against the utterances by Sudi and the standoff between the police and residents when officers attempted to arrest him at his Kapseret home as grounds to detain him.
He said public interest outweighed the respondent's right to bail and bond and that holding him was necessary for public order, peace and security.
Fifteen defence lawyers, led by Uasin Gishu Woman Rep Gladys Shollei and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, opposed the application saying their client could not be a flight risk because he is a legislator and a state officer with known abode.
Lawyer Hillary Kosgei said the respondent had communicated with the CCIO on September 10 and 11 when he was told that he would be summoned to appear. He dismissed the claim of resisting arrest, noting that Sudi was not at his Kapseret home when the police raided his home.
Kosgei added that Sudi could not be a flight risk as he presented himself to the police upon learning he was being sought.
Lawyer Bernard Ngetich asked why the prosecution had not done its investigations within the time when the suspect had been in custody.
Sudi did not take a plea although the state said it intended to charge him with five counts of hate speech, assaulting a police officer, offensive conduct, resisting arrest and being in illegal possession of a firearm.
Efforts by the defence lawyers to have Sudi taken to Nakuru GK Prison were unsuccessful after Karuri objected to the application, saying he was yet to be charged.
"The prison is a home for remandees who have either been charged or serving sentences," Karuri said.
On claims that the Central police station cells were congested, Karuri said all persons were equal before the law and no one should be treated differently.
Kalo ordered Sudi to be taken for treatment at the Nakuru County Referral Hospital after his lawyers claimed that he was ailing.
The matter will be mentioned on Wednesday for bail and bond ruling.