Officers on robbery case released on Ksh0.5M bond
Four police officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations were yesterday charged with violently robbing a man of Sh300,000.
Appearing before Milimani Law Courts, the officers; Antony Mwanza, Cornelius Wambua, Tom Otieno and Kennedy Odero denied the charges. It is alleged they abducted Vincent Odembo at NextGen Mall on Mombasa road on February 6 at around noon and forcibly demanded money from him.
Prosecution told the court that on the material day, the officers were armed with AK47 rifles and two Ceska pistols when they robbed the complainant of Sh2,400 and Sh40,000 and used actual violence on him.
It is said the officers, upon abducting Odembo, bundled him into a Subaru car before forcing him to transfer Sh40,000 from his M-Pesa account to one of the officers.
They then proceeded to the victim’s apartment where they took a further Sh272,000 before dumping him at Choma Zone located at Total Petrol Station on Mombasa Road, after a two-hour ordeal.
Defence lawyers Danstan Omari and Shadrack Wambui asked the court to grant their clients reasonable bail terms. Prosecution did not oppose the bail application.
Hefty bail
Defence lawyers also informed court that the officers were constables attached to Lang’ata Police Station and their salaries cannot allow them to pay heavy cash bail terms
Omari said the first accused, Mwanza, earns Sh18,000 and could, therefore, not afford hefty bail.
Wambua sought for lenient bail terms, saying he earns Sh1,600 after statutory deductions.
Omari said the defence was looking for an out-of-court settlement between their clients and the complainant. “The suspects being police officers are aware of the seriousness of the offence against them. This court will not give them lenient bail terms,” Kagendo said.
She released them on a Sh500,00 bond or an alternative cash bail of Sh300,000 and two contact persons.
Case will be mentioned on March 3 for pretrial and to confirm whether the parties have entered consent to have the matter settled out of court.
