Court issues warrant of arrest against suspect implicated in attack on Editor's family

The magistrate's court in Nyamira has issued a warrant of arrest against a suspect implicated in a robbery with violence incident targeting the family of Standard Group Editor Evelyne Kwamboka.

Job Morara has been accused of attacking Kwamboka's mother Faustine Moraa Kiage at her shop in Nyamaiya town on November 30, 2023, alongside two other suspects.

On Thursday, Senior Resident Magistrate Christabel Agutu issued a warrant of arrest for the suspect after he failed to appear in court for the mentioning of the case.

This came as Moraa sought the court's intervention to shed light on how a pre-bail report the court relied on to release the suspect on a Sh200,000 bond was developed.

In an affidavit through her lawyer, Kethi Kilonzo, Moraa told the Court that the probation report dated January 17, 2024, was drawn without her being contacted.

"The complainant was not given any opportunity to be interviewed by the Probation Officer or to be heard by the Court before the bond was granted to the accused person," Moraa told the Court.

Kilonzo argued that the victim had a right in Kenyan Law to be heard before bail or bond was given, as enshrined in Section 20 of the Victims Protection Act.

"Not giving the complainant, a vulnerable victim, the right to be heard before the bond was granted to the accused person was in breach of the rules of Natural Justice," Kilonzo argued.

In the robbery case, Morara was charged alongside Francis Ouru Oruko and Kevin Mogy Thomas, for allegedly violently robbing Moraa of Sh22,000. Moraa sustained injuries during the attack.

They all denied committing the offense.

The court had on February 29 ordered Morara not to go anywhere near Moraa's premises or home.