A former Kenya Rugby Sevens player who is charged with gangrape has been detained over allegations of attempted murder of a witness in the case.
Alex Olaba is alleged to have planned to eliminate the key witness in the case and even paid down payment.
Senior Resident Magistrate Bernard Ochoi allowed police to detain Olaba for a week pending investigations into attempted murder and interference of witnesses in the case in which he is charged alongside former Kenya Rugby Sevens player Frank Wanyama with gang rape.
“I allow application by the investigative officer and the accused to be remanded for seven days at Kilimani police station,” ruled the magistrate.
Officer George Otieno who is investigating the matter told the court that the suspect made several attempts directly or indirectly to contact witnesses in the matter with the view of interfering with the case and when he failed to get a positive response from the witnesses, he resorted to unlawful and desperate means to silence them.
Olaba was arrested at Madaraka estate after it was reported to them that the suspect had contacted a hitman to eliminate the key witness in the case and even paid down payment in commitment to achieve his goals.
Officer Otieno told the court that the accused lied to the court on 22 April that he was in Bungoma and he could not travel to Nairobi to attend the court proceedings due to imposed lockdown.
“The accused was in Nairobi where he was arrested at Madaraka estate by DCI officers from Kilimani police station,” added the officer. He further noted that it is an offence to lie to a person employed in the public service.
The prosecution objected to the respondent’s application to be released on bail he may end up accomplishing his intentions.
“It is the duty of this court to protect the life of witnesses in the gang rape case”, said the prosecutor.
The police were requesting ten days to hold the suspect to enable them to complete investigations and trace the alleged hitman.
“It is not the only the witness you are protecting but even the hitman who was to be hired by the suspect to do the job,” added the prosecutor.
In 2020, High Court ordered a retrial of the two players after it found that the trial magistrate who convicted them did not record whether the key witness in the case was ever sworn in or not.
The two players were sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping a 25 year old woman on 11th February 2018 at Seefar Apartments after a party.
It is alleged that one player lured her to his house after they left the party and that the two raped her in turns as she fell in and out of consciousness.
According to her statement she confronted the two men a few days after the incident when she discovered she was pregnant but they denied the allegations and instead accused her of attempting to extort money from them.
