High Court drops robbery charges to the delight of accused

Imagine leaving your workplace, picking your wife and then cruising home for a cup of warm tea only to bump into rifle-wielding gangsters at your gate!

This blood-curdling event befell Anthony Mbuthia at 8pm on June 5, 2008, as he drove to his home at Karura Kayungu village in Kiambu County

A three-man gang armed with a pistol and an Ak-47 rifle stopped Mbuthia's car as soon as his watchman opened the gate.

He heard gunshots and some movement inside his compound and from his side mirror Mbuthia could see an rifle-wielding  figure clobbering his watchman.

Aside from thoroughly clobbering the watchman with the butt of the Ak-47, the gangsters also robbed him of Sh4,000 before moving on to attack Mbuthia and his wife, Rahab Nyambura.

Then the gangsters ordered Mbuthia to switch off the engine and hand over the keys.

Cunningly, Mbuthia threw the keys to the ground, and then as one of the gangsters bent down to pick them, he scampered to safety leaving his shaken wife, still tucked in the co-driver's seat.

But while negotiating a corner as he ran for dear life, one of the gangsters fired at him and hit his thumb, injuring him. He, however, escaped and hid in his brother's house.

The gangsters then drove off in the car with Nyambura. She later recalled how she prayed quietly as the gang drove around for one and half hours looking for the next victim to rob.

The vehicle would be recovered hours later at a place called Mwitumo in Kiambu where Mbuthia's wife was also rescued – but this was only after the gangsters had attacked another motorist.

The proverbial 40th day for the robbers seemingly arrived on January 19, 2009 – nearly a year later – when the flying squad unit pounced on the suspected gang members who were later identified as Joseph Thuo and David Kang'ethe.

The two were wanted in connection with a series of robberies, including one where a person was killed during the robbery of Sh45,000 at an M-Pesa shop.

But the wheels of justice dragged. Finally, the courts found the two suspects to be unblemished and set them free.

Thuo was freed first, while Kang'ethe walked to freedom last week, after the High Court dropped the charges against him.

Kang'ethe had been sentenced to death prompting him to appeal the verdict.

But High Court judges Ngenye Macharia and Luka Kimaru last week ruled that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kang'ethe had participated in the robbery. "We quash the conviction and set aside the sentence. We further order that the appellant be set free unless he is otherwise lawfully held," ruled the judges.