A mechanic linked to the theft of the President’s Escort car has been sentenced to death.
Aggrey Odhiambo Ochieng was convicted on Wednesday of serving sentence by Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi, the case trial magistrate.
Ochieng, along with four others, was charged with robbing Chief Police Inspector David Machui of a BMW 735 vehicle on 26 August 2014 in Utawala, Nairobi.
The inspector was confronted by four armed men, who pushed him into the rear of the vehicle and drove him away.
An average of three carjackings a day in Nairobi has earned the Kenyan capital the unfortunate nickname “Nairoberry”. It seems that no one is immune. Not even the President.
Ugandan Police and Kenyan Flying Squad officials recovered the vehicle in the city of Tororo.
According to the charge sheet, Ochieng and his accomplices were armed with an AK-47 rifle and a pistol. The charge sheet states that he used excessive force on the complainant as he stole a vehicle worth ksh 1.2 million.
Another count was that on August 27, 2014, at London Estate, Nakuru, while stealing a vehicle, he had either stolen it or had illegally obtained it from the government. It took the intervention of security officials from Uganda and Kenya. Three days later to recover the vehicle on the outskirts of Kampala.
Ochieng’s teammates were Nelson Topicho Mulati, Robert Mande Ochan, Andrew Young Otieno and Godfrey Ouma Simon. Two accused have died and two others were acquitted on Wednesday.
Mulati died in 2017 five months after being released on a free bond along Kangundo Road, which police said was from a gun battle. Ochan, who was from Uganda and was a car dealer, died in Kampala two years ago. It was a natural disease. According to the verdict, he had no case to answer.
Otieno and Simon, also a car dealer based in the border town of Busia, were acquitted for lack of evidence.
