16 bodaboda riders who were arrested after a Zimbabwean diplomat was allegedly sexually assaulted along Forest Road have been set free.
Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Nanzushi released the suspects without condition after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji affirmed that evidence presented against the 16 was insufficient to warrant a case.
Haji explained that the investigating agency fail to provide exhibits linking the accused to the incident that went viral on social media and attracted nationwide condemnation.
The suspects' release was in line with Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which outlines the withdrawal from prosecution of a case before lower courts.
"In a trial before a subordinate court a public prosecutor may, with the consent of the court or on the instructions of the Director of Public Prosecutions, at any time before judgment is pronounced, withdraw from the prosecution of any person...
"...if it is made before the accused person is called upon to make his defense, he shall be discharged, but discharge of an accused person shall not operate as a bar to subsequent proceedings against him on account of the same facts." reads Section 87 (a).
The riders were also asked to collect their personal documents including National Identification cards as well as their motorbikes from the Gigiri Police Station.
However, the DPP confirmed that Zachariah Nyaora Obadia, the prime suspect in the incident, will face criminal charges in relation to the saga.
Obadia was nabbed by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on March 14 at Sirare along the Kenya-Tanzania border.
Following the incident, President Uhuru Kenyatta intervened and called for a nationwide crackdown on the riders to restore sanity to the sector.
Uhuru further called for the fresh registration of the riders at several Huduma Centers. The government waved the registration fee and promised that the first 200,000 would get free annual subscriptions with NHIF.
Several counties also adopted extra measures to manage the boda boda menace. In Nairobi, Governor Anne Kananu signed a pact with city riders that would see them dawn different colored reflectors for unique identification.
