A Nairobi court on Monday acquitted four suspects linked to a terror attack at Java restaurant at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in 2014 using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Hassan Abdi Mohammed, Mohammed Osman Ali, Yusuf Warsame and Garad Hassan Fercharged had been charged with nine counts of being in possession of explosives, falsely acquiring registration, carrying out a terrorism act at the airport, and obtaining passports through fraudulent means.
However, trial magistrate Roselyn Oganyo on Monday ruled they be freed for lack of sufficient evidence.
Judge Oganyo said that the prosecution failed to prove each of the charges facing the four beyond any reasonable doubt, a constitutional threshold required for convicting criminal charges and acquitted them under Section 215 of the criminal procedure code.
“Having considered the evidence adduced before court I find that the prosecution failed to prove its case against each of the accused persons beyond any reasonable doubt,” she ruled.
The suspects denied the charges leveled against them by the police, who also accused them of being members of the Al Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab.
The State said it will lodge an appeal at the high court, saying that the lower court failed to analyze a CCTV footage and misunderstood evidence tabled before it.
Does that mean they walked…
Does that mean they walked out, or are they still in custody somewhere waiting for the state appeal? Releasing the terrolists would be the most ignorant thing to do. I hope they immediately got rearrested.
Judge Oganyo, your judgement…
Judge Oganyo, your judgement is wrong in this case. Everything pointed to this terrorists being responsible for the explosion. Release the terrorists at your own risk. What they do next is on you and you are even emboldening the others. I do not know what reasonable doubt you need.
Someone pocketed hongo…
Someone pocketed hongo…read sabotage … How can such key evidence, CCTVs, go un-analized?
Someone pocketed hongo…
Someone pocketed hongo…read sabotage … How can such key evidence, CCTVs, go un-analized?
The name looks like a…
The name looks like a NASArite judge. Is this part of Raila’s #resist nonesense? How do you release terror suspects before they are completely cleared. To go back and complete the project eh ?