Why Nairobi court has released two men caught stealing at butchery
Two men rescued from a lynch mob by police after they were reportedly caught stealing from a butchery in Nairobi were set free after the owner of the butchery withdrew burglary charges against them.
Peter Macharia and Cyrus Ndung’u all in their 50s were facing charges of burglary contrary to section 304 of the Penal Code where they were accused of breaking and entering the butchery belonging to businessman Benson Ondati on the night of August 5, 2023.
They had stolen a measuring scale, a microwave and CCTV cameras at the butchery all valued at Sh43, 000.
Mr Ondati had closed the butchery and left when he received an alert on his phone that there was a commotion at his butchery and he proceeded to the premises in company of his brother.
They found two men attempting to load a deep freezer onto a waiting motor vehicle and challenged them but they ran away as the vehicle sped off.
They ran after the two men and caught up with them. They raised an alarm and members of the public responded where the two men were subjected to mob violence before police officers on patrol intervened and rescued them.
The cops arrested the two and took them to Mihango police station where investigations were done before they were charged.
They pleaded guilty to the charges when they were arraigned before Principal Magistrate Eric Mutunga of Makadara Law Courts.
Mr Ondati, however, told the court that he did not wish to pursue the case against them as he had already recovered almost all the items they had stolen from him and Mr Mutunga set them free.
The two men had physical injuries on the head inflicted during the assault by the members of the public and one of them could not stand in the dock during the proceedings.
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