A Magistrate Court on Tuesday convicted 3 suspects accused of attempting to bomb the Milimani Law Courts using a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED).
While delivering her ruling, Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Zeinab Abdul observed that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt through the testimonies of the 50 witnesses produced in court.
As such, the suspects were convicted on 9 counts including; being in possession of weapons for terrorist purposes,being members of terrorist group Al Shabaab among other charges.
A third suspect was also convicted for forgery.
The court set February 27 as the date when the accused will be sentenced.
In March 2018, investigators in the case told the court that the suspects' motive behind wanting to bomb the court was to free a Sheikh who was scheduled to be arraigned to take plea on terrorism related charges in February 2018.
“The respondents were headed to launch an attack at the Milimani Chief Magistrate court on February 16 when the Sheikh was expected to appear in court to take plea in terrorism and related charges and the attack was meant to illegally free him from custody,” read an affidavit filed in court by investigators at the time.
Court documents showed that the suspects were arrested between February 15 and February 23, 2018.
Two of them were arrested in Isiolo County at a time when they were allegedly transporting a wide range of weapons to Nairobi to carry out the attack.
Similarly, the court documents show that 3 other suspects were arrested in different estates in Nairobi.
When the suspects were arrested, anti-terror police recovered several items including explosive devices such as improvised bombs.
Investigators also told the court that the suspects had been in constant communication with a Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.
