On Friday, March 15, three men were arraigned at the Bondo Law Courts on a count of robbery with violence.
Among the three, was a police officer and Governor James Orengo’s driver. The pair were arrested after they allegedly beat up and robbed a human rights activist in the Olago area in Sakwa.
According to a police report, the suspects roughed up the activist and assaulted him before taking away Ksh20,000 which he had carried in cash.
The report further noted that the three took spectacles worth Ksh41,000, an ATM card and an NHIF card, before harming and leaving the man in pain.
The judge heading the trial instructed the accused to refrain from contacting the witnesses or the victim, after releasing them on a Ksh300,000 bond.
“Taking into consideration the nature of the case, I will grant the accused as is their Constitutional right, a bond of Ksh300,000, with a surety of a similar amount,” the judge stated.
The case is set to be mentioned on April 2, 2024, for a pre-trial.
In a similar incident, police officers from Busia were arrested in February after stealing Ksh2 million from a businessman.
Acting on intel, officers ambushed four of the suspects in the robbery at a local hotel parking lot, where they recovered Ksh500,000 in cash.
The four were detained at a police station. Upon preliminary investigations, the police discovered that two of the four suspects were a corporal and a police inspector within Busia County.
The four, among them a businessman accused of having helped the officers in executing the crime, were arraigned at the Busia law courts on February 29, 2024.
“The prosecution made their argument to transfer the matter to another station, but our position is there is no application for transfer of the case to any other station,” the court stated in response to a report requesting a transfer of the case to a court outside Busia County.
