- Through their lawyers, the officers asked the court to grant them very reasonable bail terms after the prosecution told court that they were not opposing bail.
- They were released on a Sh500,00 bond or an alternative cash bail of Sh300,000 and two contact persons.
Four police officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Lang'ata have been charged with robbery with violence in a Nairobi court.
Antony Mwanza, Cornelius Wambua, Tom Omondi Otieno and Kennedy Odero pleaded not guilty to the offence.
It is alleged that on February 6 at 1.45pm at Nextgen Mall along Mombasa Road in Langata, armed with AK-47 rifles and two Ceska pistols, they robbed Vincent Odembo of Sh2,400 and Sh40,000 and used actual violence on him.
Through their lawyers Danstan Omari and Shadrack Wambui, the four officers asked the court to grant them reasonable bail terms after the prosecution told court that they were not opposing bail.
Omari told court the officers were constables attached to Lang'ata and their salaries cannot allow them to pay heavy fines.
He further said the first accused Mwanza earns Sh 18,000 which is very little and he won’t be able to raise a huge sum of bail.
Wambui said also told court that from the instructions they have received from their clients, the issue before court was a misunderstanding and not a criminal matter as has been alleged.
Omari further said the defence was looking for an out of court settlement between their clients and the complainant.
Chief magistrate Wendy Micheni said she had considered all the submissions by the defence and noted that the offence was serious and has a death penalty sentence if found guilty.
She released them on a Sh500,00 bond or an alternative cash bail of Sh300,000 and two contact persons.
In a statement to the media last week, DCI director George Kinoti said the officers abducted Odembo at Next Gen Mall on February 6 at around noon and forcefully demanded money from him.
"The man who had requested for a taxi by the roadside along Mombasa Road was accosted by the officers before being forcefully bundled into a waiting Subaru that had five occupants," he said.
It is further alleged that the in-charge Corporal Otieno, forcefully transferred Sh40,000 from the victim’s M-Pesa account to his M-Pesa account.
They then proceeded to the victim’s apartment where they took a further Sh272,000 from him, before dumping him at Choma Zone located at Total petrol station along Mombasa Road after a two hour ordeal.
"The following day, the victim went to Akira police station to make his report only to find the vehicle he had been bundled into parked at the station," he said.
The case will be mentioned on March 3.
(edited by Amol Awuor)