A 19 year old university student who was caught on camera assaulting a police officer over the weekend was on Tuesday arraigned in court and charged with robbery and grievous harm.
Ian Njoroge was arraigned before Milimani Magistrate BenMark Ekhubi and charged with three counts of robbery with violence, grievous harm and resisting arrest.
It was alleged that on June 2 at Kamiti road in Nairobi he assaulted officer Jacob Ngendo and caused him actual grievous harm.
The prosecution further claimed that Njoroge robbed the officer by stealing his phone and the battery of a police communication gadget all valued at Sh 50,000.
According to the charge sheet, he also resisted arrest by officer Ngendo when he was stopped during a traffic stop.
He denied the charges and through his lawyers he pleaded with the court to release him on bail.
However, the prosecution opposed to his release on bail asking the court to detain him for three more days to allow investigating officer draft an affidavit to oppose bail.
But, his lawyers strongly opposed the application to detain Njoroge saying so far he has been treated in an inhuman manner.
Lawyer Duncan Okatch claimed that Njoroge has been molested in his mother’s house when the officers arrested him.
The court heard that the arresting police officers mistreated him calling him a dog and stupid as per a video recording played in court.
Okatch further submitted that Njoroge is a first year student in one of the public university adding that he has a future that he is pursuing.
“Your honour m,he has parents and was arrested in the house of the parents and at the station he was beaten and the clothes he was on were blood stained,” Okatch said.
On his part, Lawyer Lempaa Soyianka submitted that the charge sheet is defective pointing fingers at count 1 on robbery with violence.
The court allowed the application by the prosecutor but only for one day until tomorrow when they are expected to file the application opposing bail.
