Suspected Buruburu gangster in court for assaulting, robbing boda boda rider
A man suspected to be a member of a five-man gang which assaulted a bodaboda rider and stole household items worth Sh75, 850, including live chicken before torching his bike, is facing charges of theft.
Samwel Weingaya Machio is accused of stealing a laptop worth Sh50,000, a radio speaker worth Sh6,000 and an energy saver light bulb valued at Sh350 among other items that belonged to Amos Mang’ula.
The offence is reported to have happened at the complainant’s house in Buruburu estate in Nairobi on September 27. Other items Machio is accused of stealing include three pairs of shoes valued at Sh6000, assorted clothes valued at Sh5000 and six chicken worth Sh8,500.
Machio is facing an additional charge of handling stolen property contrary to section 322 (1) (2) of the penal code. In the charge, he is accused of dishonestly retaining a green jacket belonging to Mang’ula in the course of stealing it, knowing or having reasons to believe it to be stolen property.
The suspect has also been charged with malicious damage to property contrary to section 339 (1) of the penal code where he is accused of willfully and unlawfully burning down a motorcycle valued at Sh141,790 belonging to Mang’ula’s brother Samuel Wanjala on September 27. He is facing charges of committing the offence of malicious damage jointly with others at large.
On the morning of the incident, Mang’ula was seated outside his house when three men known to him approached him. He noticed that two of them were armed with crude weapons.
They attacked him with the weapons and he fell down while bleeding from the head where he had sustained injuries. The three torched his bike but Mang’ula managed to free himself from the assailants.
He went to a hospital where he was treated before he made a report of assault and malicious damage to property at Buruburu Police Station. But the men regrouped and returned to his house after he returned home and stole the items in his presence. Mang’ula returned to the police station and made another report.
The next day Mang’ula met Machio dressed in the stolen jacket at Buruburu shopping centre and informed police officers who arrested the suspect.
The accused denied the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Lewis Gatheru of the Makadara Law Courts. He was released on a cash bail of Sh40,000. The case will be mentioned on October 14 before the hearing starts on February 9 next year.