High Court has stayed a Magistrate’s court decision that granted suspects in former Garissa Finance Executive Idriss Mukhtar shooting bail.
Mukhtar’s lawyer Charles Kanjama moved to the high court after Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi released Mohamud Hussein Aden and Juliet Charity Njoki a cash bail of Sh 500,000 pending the hearing and determination of their case.
The two were charged with the attempted murder of Mukhtar whereby the failed assassination left him in a coma fighting for his life.
They are charged with conspiring to Kill Kanjama on diverse dates between 1st July and 27th September 2018 at unknown place in Nairobi.
In a letter to the High Court, Kanjama states that the accused persons are likely to leave the jurisdiction of the court if releases on bail.
“We request this court’s indulgence to admit, hear and determine this revision brought about by the ruling of the Chief Magistrate with extreme urgency,” states the lawyer.
Governor Korane’s security consultant
He further states that before the ruling , the family of Muktar received information from one Ahmed Aden Hire that the accused, Mohamud Hussein Aden is a Senior Security Adviser of Garissa Governor Korane Ali Bunow and has been working as such since he won the seat in the 2017 general election.
Kanjama further informed the court that the matter is very urgent and critical matter and needs to be handled before the accused persons leaves the jurisdiction of the court.
“In the circumstances an order of stay of release of Mohamud Hussein Aden and Juliet Charity Njoki is hereby granted pending the hearing and determination of this application,” the court ordered.
The judge further ordered the deputy registrar to call for the original trial court record so that the same is before court during the hearing.
It is their argument that Hussein is also on the payroll of the county government of Garissa contrary to the accused averment that he is a businessman in Machakos county and has been so for the past 13 years.
The court further heard that Hussein and Governor Korane belong to the same nuclear family called Arale.
The lawyer further states that Hussein decided to withdraw an affidavit sworn by his alleged wife whom he claims to be living with in Machakos County after the Victim’s lawyers applied to cross-examine the wife on the same.
The court thus also withdrew the affidavit by the victim’s father in response to the one by the Hussein’s alleged wife.
According to the applicants, the decision to expunge the affidavit by Mukhtar’s father was improper since it was also in support of the prosecution’s objections to bail.
Somali citizen
Mukhtar’s father also alleges that since he belongs to the same clan as Hussein, he has received information from clan setting in Garissa that if released on bail, there are arrangements to either have him cross the border to Somalia and gain citizenship automatically.
The constitution of Somalia categorically defines a Somali Citizen as …..”any person who by origin, language belongs to the Somali Nation shall be considered a Somali….”
This therefore, according to the applicants makes Hussein at flight risk.
It is their belief that if the two are released on bail, they will leave the court’s jurisdiction or interfere with the ongoing investigations into the co-conspirators of the crime.
Juliet on the other has two children and is believed alleged to have been cohabiting with Hussein as man and wife.
She is also believed to be at flight risk because she alluded to the fact that her mother has been in custody of her children since 2013 she she left Kenya for Qatar together with the father of her children in search of ‘greener pastures’.
