Former rugby player Alex Olaba sentenced to six years in jail

Former rugby player Alex Olaba at a Milimani court in May 2021. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Former rugby player Alex Olaba has been sentenced to six years in jail after he was found guilty of attempting to kill a witness in a gang rape case.

In a ruling on Wednesday, May 24, Nairobi Court Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo found Olaba guilty of two counts of interfering with the judicial process and conspiring to kill a witness.

"Although the accused person is remorseful, the offences he faces are serious. l convict and sentence him to serve six years in count one of conspiracy to kill and two years imprisonment in the second account of interference with judicial process," Onsarigo ruled.

On May 15, the court found Olaba guilty of attempting to murder a key witness in 2021. He was facing charges alongside his former teammate Frank Wanyama.

Investigating officer George Otieno previously told the court that Olaba made several attempts, directly and indirectly, to contact a State witness in the gang rape case with the intention of interfering with his trial.

When Olaba failed to get a positive response, he resorted to unlawful and desperate means to silence the witness, the court heard.

The rugby player and his teammate had been charged with gang-raping a woman on February 10 in 2019 at an apartment in Highrise, Nyayo estate, Nairobi County.

The duo was found guilty by Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku and were sentenced to 15 years each.

They would later appeal at the High Court before Justice Ngenye Macharia.