- Kahawa Law Court magistrate Gideon Kiage while granting them bail said there was no sufficient evidence to deny them bail.
- The magistrate said the charge of enforced disappearance was not a reason to detain the officers.
Image: CROLYNE KUBWA/FILE
Fifteen police officers accused of being behind the disappearance of two Indians and their Kenyan taxi driver have been released on a cash bail of Sh1 million each.
Kahawa Law Court magistrate Gideon Kiage while granting them bail said there was no sufficient evidence to deny them bail.
The magistrate said the charge of enforced disappearance was not a reason to detain the officers.
He asserted that all the suspects were aware that they were being investigated over the disappearance of the three for over a year.
“I am not persuaded that the preferment of charges has changed the circumstances. The accused persons have been aware of the investigations and they have been aware that they were implicated. I hereby release each of them on a cash bail of Sh1 million or a bond of Sh3 million,” the magistrate ruled.
The officers drawn from SSU, DCI, NIS and KWS have since denied seventeen counts of offences.
The offences ranged from abduction to murder, cooperation in the execution of cruel treatment, conspiracy to commit a felony, and forgery among others.
The DPP said investigations proved that all suspects were linked to the disappearance of the three people except one Francis Muendo Ndonye who was released unconditionally.
The accused persons include Chief Inspector Peter Muthee, Inspector James Kibosek, Corporals Joseph Kamau, David Chepcheng, Joseph Mwenda, John Mwangi and Hilary Limo, Constables Stephen Luseno, Simon Muhuga, Paul Njogu, Boniface Otieno, Elkana Njeru, Fredrick Thuku, John Wanjiku Macharia and Warden Michael Kiplangat. Officers Muthee, Kibosek, Kamau, Chepcheng, Luseno, Muhuga and Macharia were charged with the first count of abducting two Indian men namely Mohammed Zaid Sami Kidwai and Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan.
The charge sheet states that on July 22 and 23 in Nairobi, the accused persons while on board motor vehicles KDD 632j, KDG 836X, KDH 262S and GKB 809U and other unknown vehicles, with intent to abduct, trailed and intercepted a motor vehicle with intent to cause Mohammed who is an Indian national, who was an occupant, to be secretly and wrongfully abducted or maybe murdered or put in danger of being murdered.
The seven faced another count of abducting Nicodemus Mwange who was driving the said motor vehicle to be wrongfully abducted or put in danger of being murdered on the same dates and place.
The 15 faced an offence of jointly conspiring to commit a felony known as abduction with intent to murder Mohammed, Khan and Mwange.
The court heard, that John Macharia while being a member of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), subjected Mohammed, Khan and Mwange to inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment.
Chief inspector Muthee is alone accused of forging a work ticket for motor vehicle GKB 809U for July 2022, purporting that the handwriting belonged to Francis Muendo Ndonye with intent to deceive.