A man who was arrested while vandalizing a vehicle belonging to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) at the Nairobi Area traffic police headquarters along Ngong Road has pleaded guilty to charges of theft.
Mr Nick Cloud Benson, 23, was charged with stealing two side mirrors from a motor vehicle belonging to the government of Kenya, contrary to section 268 as read with section 275 of the penal code, on diverse dates between June 4, 2023 and June 15, 2023.
The accused admitted the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Mary Njagi of the Makadara Law Courts in Nairobi. The vehicle belongs to the DCI’s elite Operation Support Unit (OSU).
The suspect was arrested on June 16, 2023 by a detective attached to OSU who found him inside the car around 5:30am as he reported to work.
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The DCI had received information that Mr Benson had been vandalizing cars detained by the DCI in relation to various criminal cases and the matter was still under investigation when he was arrested.
An auto dealer told the DCI that Mr Benson had approached him to buy car parts from him but he suspected they were stolen.
The accused has been scaling the perimeter wall at the highly guarded premises to gain access at night and steal car parts.
Three DCI officers and the auto dealer were listed as the witnesses in the case but they will not testify since the accused person did not deny the charges.
Mr Benson will remain in remand until July 17, 2023 when the state prosecution office will lay out its case against him before he is convicted and sentenced.
He was charged barely two months after a 36-year-old man, who sneaked into the Industrial Area Police Station in Nairobi and stole a battery from a police officer’s car, pleaded guilty to charges of stealing contrary to section 268 (1) as read with section 275 of the penal code.
Thandermol Falcao admitted that he stole the battery valued at Sh10,000 from a car belonging to corporal Fredrick Oramisi at the station’s lines on April 20.
Mr Falcao went to the parking and vandalized the car removing the battery. But he was spotted leaving with it by a security guard guarding the Makadara DCI offices within the station. He was arrested while attempting to flee after the theft and admitted the charges when he was arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts.
