By VINCENT AGOYA
Friday, April 04, 2014
The Muslim preacher and his wife were arrested during a swoop in Nairobi’s Eastleigh following a terrorist attack in which six people were killed and dozens more injured.
The couple will be questioned in police efforts to recover a cache of 20 other grenades said to be hidden in the city, the trial court ruled.
PRELIMINARY OBJECTION
Mr Hassan Mahati Omar and his wife, Ms Fardosa Mohammed Abdi, were charged with having the two hand grenades on April 1 at Madina Apartments in Eastleigh Section 7. (READ: Two arrested with grenades in Eastleigh)
They were also charged with being members of a Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kenya.
The prosecution said that “they were found to be members of the Al-Shabaab after being found with the grenades meant to be used for terrorism activities”.
While opposing their request for release on bond, prosecutor Isaiah Mwiranga told the court that the two may interfere with investigations.
On Thursday, defence lawyer Chacha Mwita raised a preliminary objection against the trial, saying, the defence would prove the “grenades were planted on the suspects”.
The prosecutor said the recovered weapons were part of a larger cache.
“There existed 20 grenades, and... police need the two to help them recover the rest. Part of what the police were following was recovered from the accused and if released at this stage they may conceal all loopholes,” the prosecutor said.
He objected to a suggestion by the defence lawyer that the suspects had so far been cooperative and would honour their bail terms if released.
“They remain a security threat to this country and its citizens and the application for bail is meant to defeat justice,” the prosecutor argued.
He said Anti-Terrorism Police Unit investigators had not completed investigations.
The magistrate concurred, saying, evidence had been filed before court of the existence of 20 grenades and only a few had been recovered.
Ms Elena Nderitu said that this was sufficient reason to compel the court “to detain the suspects until such a time that investigations are complete and to prevent them from interfering.”
She directed the police to return with the suspects to court on April 17 for further orders on bail.
The couple was arrested after police mounted a mop-up operation following multiple attacks in explosives were hurled at patrons at a cafe.