A man who was charged with robbing two people off their phones and valuables has been sentenced to 45 years in jail.
Joseph Chege was found guilty by a Kibera court and sentenced to 45 years imprisonment
Principal Magistrate Renee Kitagwa found him guilty of the offense after listening to five witnesses who testified in the prosecution case.
It was alleged that sed of on June 9, 2021 at about 9 pm along Kilimani road in Kilimani area within Nairobi County, Jointly with others not before the court he robbed Esther Wambui Juma, a mobile phone Sh 45 000, cash Sh 2000, a national identity card at gun point.
In her setence, the magistrate said from tye evidence, Chege was well identified and the offence of robbery with violence was well proved.
“The question of identification was proved and the prosecution successfully proved the case against the accused person, I have considered both the prosecution and the defense evidence and mitigation and he is hereby sentenced to 45 years in jail,” ruled the magistrate.
In her testimony, Wambui said at 9 pm she was going home accompanied by her colleague who was a chef and upon reaching at a certain tower they were stopped by a motorcycle that blocked their way and two people alighted and one left with the rider.
She told court that one of the two men approached her and ordered her to lie on the ground and face her head on the floor.
“ One man forced me to lie down and face my head on the floor; I gave him my phone, money and bag, at the moment he withdraw a small gun from his jacket, corked it and pointed it on me and threatened to shoot me,” the court heard.
The court was told that Chege then forcefully took her phone and other valuables.
Chege then attacked Wambui colleague and also robbed him off his valuables.
However things did not go well for Chege because immediately after the robbery as they were speeding off they got an accident a few meters ahead.
“ After they robbed us our items and left, a certain man who was standing at the traffic lights called us and informed us that the said thieves had been knocked down by a motorcycle we rushed their recovered some of our items and called the police,” she said.
Chege was arrested by members of the public who were there and later arraigned in court.
However, in his defense he told court that it was a case of mistaken identity adding that the whole ordeal was a plot to take him to jail.
In court he said that he was a victim of lost identity.
The court dismissed his defense and noted that Chege was positively identified by the victims.
He has 14 days to appeal the setence against him.
