Six suspects who were arrested on suspicion of fake title deeds syndicate have been released on a cash bail of Sh 500,000 by a Nairobi court.
On releasing them, the Milimani chief magistrate Bernard Ochoi said that there were no compelling reasons produced before the court to merit their detention.
The magistrate referred to Article 49 (1) of the constitution that bond is a constitutional right and a suspect cannot be denied the right to liberty unless there are compelling reasons,
“In this scenario there are no compelling reasons produced before the court to deny the suspects their right,” said the magistrate.
He said that the reasons provided before the court by Nicholaus Osuri, a DCI officer seeking their detention are just mere allegations since they were not supported with documents and the court could not rely on allegations.
Osuri had prayed the court to give orders to have the suspects for 30 days at Muthaiga Police Station to investigate the offences of forgery, conspiracy to defraud, making false documents, obtaining registration by false pretences and uttering false documents.
Osuri had highlighted seven offences and the magistrate noted that most of them were related to forgery and the court combined them as one offence.
About the letters of allotment recovered from the respondents, Osuri wanted time to verify or trace the registered owners through the state Department of Lands and Physical Planning but the court was not convinced since the DCI has the documents and that do not require the suspects being held,
“The court in not provided with prove on how the respondents are required during the process of verification of documents,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate further noted that the court was not furnished with the telephone numbers to which respondents alleged to have been in constant communication and sharing of documents and that can be termed as allegations.
The court also indicated that the respondents are not in control of the forensic analysis of the gadgets held by the DCI.
The issue of seeking orders to detain the second respondent Joel Kakuli Mwangangi at Kenyatta National Hospital to retrieve the memory card he is alleged to have swallowed in a bid to conceal the evidence was dismissed.
The court indicated that it is about three days since he was alleged to have swallowed the card and nothing has been done so far.
The prayer was dismissed too and the prosecution urged to file a written submission on the same.
“From the reasons herein, I do not see any compelling reason to deny the suspects their right to liberty,” said Ochoi.
In his brief ruling, he released them on a cash bail of Sh 300,000 with one contact person each.
They were further ordered to report to the DCI Land Department Unit twice a week and not to contact the witnesses in this matter.
The matter will be mentioned on September 24, 2024, for further directions.
The six were arrested on Monday and brought before the court in a miscellaneous application seeking their detention for 30 days to give the DCI time to complete Investigations.