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Court declines bid to withdraw robbery with violence case against four suspects
Complainant had told the court that had decided to forgive the four men in their early 20s after their parents approached him
Four men who are accused of grabbing a pedestrian by his private parts and forcing him to lie down while ransacking his pockets during a daylight robbery in Kayole, Nairobi, suffered a blow after a Makadara court rejected an attempt by the complainant to withdraw the case against them.
The suspects, Wilvex Kangaita, John Omondi, Dennis Nzioka and Calvin Otieno, were charged with robbery with violence contrary to section 296 (2) of the Penal Code.
They are accused of robbing JM of his mobile phone worth Sh1,400 at Soweto Dominion area in Kayole, Embakasi Central on July 14. They denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Joseph Karanja.
Charges against them indicated that they used actual violence on JM during the alleged robbery.
JM was in court to withdraw the case but the same was rejected. He had told the court that had decided to forgive the four men in their early 20s after their parents approached him.
But prosecution counsel Allan Mogere and Karanja refused. Mogere told the court that the mobile phone stolen from JM during the robbery was recovered from the suspects and has been retained as an exhibit in the case.
The mobile phone was recovered from Otieno’s mother’s hotel where the four suspects were arrested after JM reported the robbery at Masimba police post.
JM and his friend were headed to a shop when they found five men smoking weed by the roadside. The assailants stopped them but JM’s friend sped off before he was subdued.
JM was unfortunately grabbed by his private parts and floored by the assailants who attempted to force him smoke bhang with them before he was robbed.
He proceeded to the police post where he made a report after he was robbed and police officers accompanied him back to the scene.
JM later identified the four men who had retreated to the hotel belonging to the mother of one of them. The four suspects were arrested.
During the interrogation, they said they had left JM’s phone at the hotel and the owner was called. She took the phone to the police and the same is in custody of the police as an exhibit.
The suspects were released on a bond of Sh300,000 each. The matter will be mentioned on August 28 for a pretrial.
