A Kiambu Court on Monday allowed police to hold three people suspected to have broken into a house and stealing goods, among them a biometric machine for Huduma Namba registration exercise.
David Odanga Alwiga, Wycliffe Angote and Immanuel Aucha Omutiali were arraigned before court but were not required to take plea as police are yet to complete investigations.
The Kiambu Chief Magistrate (CM), Ms. Patricia Gichohi allowed Corporal David Langat of Kiambu police station more time to hold the suspects following an application he made before court in a miscellaneous application.
In his application no 198/2019, Cpl Langat said he was investigating a case of house-breaking and stealing which occurred on 3rd May 2019. He said during the said incident, a power bank, phone infinix x606 and the registration machine for Huduma Namba were stolen from the house of Charles Ngugi Kariuki.
He said the 1st and 2nd suspects had been arrested in Kiambu County while the 3rd suspect was arrested in Vihiga County.
“I pray that the court allows me to detain them for five days as it will enable me to record statements and also recover some of the stolen goods. It has been very difficult to track them down and if released on bond, they will abscond as the 3rd suspect escaped to Vihiga County”
When asked about the application, they concurred with the investigating officer but said he should reduce the number of days to three.
The Senior Prosecuting Counsel, Ms. Christine Mbevi vehemently opposed their request, saying the investigating officer should be given the five days he had requested so he could carry out thorough investigations. The case will be mentioned on May 13, 2019.
By Lydia Shiloya