A Nairobi court has directed that the case involving ten individuals charged with violently robbing G4S employees of Sh74.4 million proceed on October 17 without further delay. The case, which has been ongoing for five years, was set to be heard before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina but was postponed because the prosecution was unprepared with their witnesses.
To date, six out of 32 witnesses have testified in the robbery case against Chris Ayienda Mochogu, Duncan Luvuka, Boniface Mutua, Alexander Mutuku, Francis Muriuki, Bernard Mwenda Mulee, Benson Makokha Sawaka, Nahashon Mutua Mulee, Simon Gichui Karuku, and Caroline Waithera.
The accused are charged with robbing G4S staff of Sh74.4 million, 38 cassettes, 13 purge bins, and 13 canvas bags, totaling Sh75.9 million, at Nairobi West Shopping Centre in Lang’ata on September 5, 2019. They allegedly used firearms during the robbery and threatened to harm the victims.
Additionally, they are accused of unlawfully destroying the cassettes and purge bins, valued at Sh1.2 million, at Thogoto Forest in Kiambu County.
According to police reports, a group posing as police officers stole 13 bags of money worth Sh72 million from Standard Chartered Bank and G4S in Nairobi on the same day. The accused allegedly intercepted the cash-in-transit from G4S headquarters and an ATM belonging to Standard Chartered Bank.
The robbers, who were initially believed to be cash-in-transit officers, demanded all phones from the G4S employees, offloaded the cash into a Toyota Noah, and escaped with 13 bags of cash totaling approximately Sh72 million. Prosecutors claim that the robbers were armed with firearms and threatened the G4S staff with violence during the heist.
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