Court adjourns Sh4.9m theft case involving police officers

NAIROBI, KENYA; A case implicating four police officers in theft of goods on transit worth Sh4.9 million has been adjourned.

This is after the prosecution informed the court that the third accused (AP Jacob Aduda) is said to be deceased prompting him to request for case adjournment. The claims by the prosecution however could not be proved by way of documentation.

The four Administration Police officers were charged with stealing the goods, valued at more than Sh4.9 million, on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.

Mr Francis Karanja, Mr Reuben Kimeli, Mr Jacob Aduda and Ms Caroline Chebet, all attached to Molo Administration Police Line allegedly on February 7, 2012 along Nakuru-Eldoret road in Molo jointly with others not before court stole assorted shop goods and a motor vehicle make Tata Lorry all valued at Sh4, 972, 000.

Others charged alongside the officers are Mr Paul Thiong’o Wanderi, Mr Peter Gitau Gathiora, Mr Daniel Nyabera, Mr James Gathecha and Ms Anne Njeri.

The application to have the case adjourned was however opposed by the officers through their lawyers who claimed the prosecution is unable to prove if really the third accused is dead.

The officers through their lawyers informed the court that the case pending before court is serious and six years down the line only three witnesses had testified in the case.

They further stated that their clients are on half pay since their arrest in 2012 and are unable to provide for their families while they themselves suffer in the hands of the prosecution.

They had earlier pleaded with the court to allow the case proceed for hearing.

Nakuru Senior Resident Magistrate Yvonne Khatambi in a brief ruling allowed the adjournment.

Khatambi noted that the matter is fairly old having been lodged in court in 2012. She directed that the case be heard on October 24 and 25, 2018.

The court further directed the prosecution to avail the death documentation of the alleged deceased police officer.