Ian Njoroge, accused of Resisting Arrest, Robbery with violence and Causing grevious Harm to a uniformed police officer has been released on a Ksh 700,000 bond.
Issuing the statement, Senior Principal Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi granted Ian Njoroge a bond of the previously mentioned sum, with no provision for a cash bail option.
This came after the Milimani law Courts had early on Friday given probation officers upto 2pm to file their report on the matter, failure to which the court would rule on his bail application.
On its ruling, the court directed that the robbery with violence charge against Njoroge is unconstitutional since section 96 (2) of the Penal Code where the said offence was anchored was declared unconstitutional by the High Court.
In addition, the court also declared that the application by the prosecution that Njoroge should not be released on bail and/or bond because he is a flight risk is implausible since it is not supported by any evidence.
This comes after the prosecution had earlier claimed that Ian Njoroge’s life will be in danger and there will be an attempt to kill him by the public due to the sensitivity of the case, claiming that the police will be unable to offer protection
“That due to the publicity of the matter, the situation on the ground is hostile towards the accused person. There is imminent danger to the accused person due to public agitation.”
However, the court ruled that Ian Njoroge was not a flight risk, was not in a position to tamper with witnesses and will be available for court summons and therefore granted him a Ksh 700,000 bond.
However, the process of bond application is said to have taken long and will see Ian Njoroge spend the weekend in custody awaiting processing on Monday and his subsequent release.