Key suspect in Forest Road attack to be detained for 10 more days
A Nairobi court yesterday allowed the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti to continue detaining the suspected mastermind of the sexual attack on a motorist in Parklands, Nairobi county for 10 more days.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki ordered that the suspect Zacharia Nyaora Obadiah be held at Gigiri Police Station until March 24, when the court will give further directions.
The suspect was arrested on Monday at the Kenya-Tanzania border in Sirare just before he could cross to the neighbouring country. The arrest came a week after he escaped a police dragnet at in Mukuru Kaiyaba through a sewer duct.
Detectives told the court that Obadiah has been on the run since March 4 when he, together with a horde of boda boda riders, allegedly attacked a United Nations employee following an accident along Wangari Mathai-Limuru road intersection.
The court was informed that the victim who is a diplomat reported the incident at the Parklands Police Station. She told police that she was driving along Wangari Mathai-Limuru road at about 5.30 pm when the incident occurred.
During the incident, the court heard that the victim was sexually molested and robbed of her mobile phone valued at Sh130,000. On March 8, four days after the attack, detectives positively identified Obadiah as the main suspect and tracked him to Mukuru Kaiyaba slum in Nairobi.
It is said that detectives from the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau together with those from the Nairobi DCI regional command, pounced on Obadiah as he tried to cross the border to Tanzania through an illegal route.
Life imprisonment
Obadiah, together with 16 other suspects already in police custody, could be staring at long jail terms if found guilty. Detectives have preferred robbery with violence and indecent acts under the Sexual Offences Act; which can earn them life imprisonment upon conviction.
Among the exhibits, the DCI has obtained are a motorcycle suspected to be Obadiah’s, its details were captured at the scene. There is also a report placing his phone signals at the scene of the crime on the fateful day.
