A Nairobi court yesterday ordered a case in which ten people charged with robbery with violence on G4S employees involving Sh74.4 million to proceed on October 17 without further delay.
The five-year-old case was scheduled for hearing before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina but it could not proceed because the prosecution was not ready with their witnesses.
So far, six out of 32 witnesses have testified in the robbery with violence case against Chris Ayienda Mochogu, Duncan Luvuka, Boniface Mutua, Alexender Mutuku, Francis Muriuki, Bernard Mwenda Mulee, Benson Makokha Sawaka, Nahashon Mutua Mulee, Simon Gichui Karuku and Caroline Waithera.
Armed staff
The charge stated that on September 5, 2019, at Nairobi West shopping centre in Lang’ata, Nairobi county while armed with firearms, they jointly robbed G4S staff of Sh74.4 million, 38 cassettes,13 purge bins and 13 canvas bags totalling Sh75.9 million and after that threatened to harm them.
Another charge is that on September 5, 2019, at Thogoto Forest in Kiambu County, they willingly and unlawfully destroyed the cassettes and purge bins all valued at Sh1.2 million which was the property of G4S company.
According to the police, a group of men posing as police officers on the material day stole 13 bags of money worth Sh72 million, from the Standard Chartered Bank and G4S in Nairobi.
It is said that the accused stole the cash in transit from the G4S headquarters along Witu Road and an ATM in Nairobi West belonging to Standard Chartered Bank.
“On arrival, they (thugs) requested the password from headquarters then opened the ATM machine,” the police OB 2 /5/919 in Langata Division Police Station stated.
It was reported that the G4S employees had left the headquarters in two vehicles with three men they thought to be cash-in-transit officers escorting them.
It is further said that the officers who were escorting the cash turned out to be robbers and demanded all their phones and offloaded the cash to another car make Toyota Noah that emerged and they made away with 13 bags of cash with roughly Sh72 million.
The six, including three police officers, jointly with others at large allegedly robbed G4S staff of Sh74 million and 38 cassettes, 13 purge bins and 13 canvas bags all totalling Sh75.9 million. Prosecutors say they were in possession of dangerous weapons like firearms and threatened to use violence on the staff during the raid on September 5.
In the second count, the six were charged with malicious damage to property.
The court heard that on the fateful day, the suspects destroyed 36 cassettes and 11 purge bins, the property of G4S valued at Sh1,267,000 in Thogoto Forest.
