Junda MCA Joshua Oonje

Request to have bond terms in a murder case involving a member of county assembly (MCA) from Mombasa County has been thwarted as the court upheld its initial ruling.

The four suspects are in custody in connection with the murder of an activist Shem Sheffa at Stage park hotel in Rongo township on February 14 this year.

MCA for Juda ward in Mombasa County Paul Oswado and three other co accused however denied the murder charges at Migori high court before Judge Antony Murima on Tuesday.

In their argument for release on bond through their advocate, the four accused said they had no prior charges of criminal offences.

In his part, the first accused who was identified as William said he is the sole breadwinner of his young family that solely depended on his farming activities.

The third accused who was identified as Jared Otieno said he was a student and his stay in custody had interfered with his school activities.

“The third accused is a student at Kisumu Polytechnic and as at the time of his arrest he was doing his internship,” argued his defence advocate.

Consequently, the second accused Laban Ombinja said he was a driver at a company in Nairobi and he was likely to be replaced.

The defence attorney added that the MCA would lose his seat with his continued stay behind bars as par county assembly standing orders.

“The MCA has already missed five sittings and failure to resume attending by Thursday, the speaker will declare his seat vacant as he will have missed eight sittings,” the defence argued.

The accused also argued that evidence linking them to the murder was “minimal” adding that they were merely “at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

After listening to the defence and the prosecution, the court through Justice Murima granted the accused release on bond terms of two million each and a surety of similar amount as there were “no compelling reasons to deter bail” as per Article 49 (1) (h) of the Kenyan constitution.

The four accused were also directed to report to CID offices in Rongo on the first Monday of every month till their case is determined.

Request to have the bond terms reviewed were denied as the court asked the defence to file a formal review request.

This was after the defence requested for review while arguing that value of property some of the accused intended to use on bond terms didn’t meet terms by the court.

Citing the case as that of public interest, the court fixed a hearing for March 8 and hearing on 11th and 12th of the same month.