Breaking News: Witness says cop robbed petrol station, killed guard privateofficer.org - News Paper

Mandera Africa Feb 27 2019


A Mandera police officer was involved in armed robbery at a petrol station in which a guard was killed, a court was told yesterday.
Salat Jelle, also a security guard at the premises, told the Mandera law courts that seven armed men in police uniform approached them. At first he thought they were on normal night patrol, but they “later turned out to be robbers”.
Corporal Richard Karanja of the Kopedo RDU camp in Mandera was charged with killing Dakane Abdille. He was also charged with breaking Takbir petrol station’s safes and stealing Sh729,000. He denied the charges.
But Jelle said he was part of the gang. He said the killers tied him up together with his slain colleague and demanded office keys to the safes.
Jelle said he was able to identify Karanja from the others because “he’s short and has deep eyes.” He said the officer had been directing the other six colleagues.
 “We were ordered not to scream, but my friend screamed in pain as they hammered him with clubs and a thick piece of timber. At this point, the assailants hit him at the back of the head and he died of his injuries,” he said.
The court heard that the robbers cut the latches of two steel doors before accessing two safes.
“After the robbery, they sped off on foot towards the Kapedo RDU camp. A police van passed us barely 20 minutes later. The assailants struck at 1am and by the time I got help from a passerby, it was 4am. This is when Muslims go for prayer. I heard footsteps from afar as I screamed for help,” Jelle said.
 He said a young man came and untied me as we rescued Dakane. “We thought he was alive. I called my boss who came immediately as we took him to Blue Light Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival.”
Corporal Karanja is being held at the Mandera prison. He was denied bond on January 7 when the case came up for mention.
Senior prosecution counsel Allen Mulama said the accused is an influential officer and might interfere with witnesses.
He said Karanja was to be arraigned on December 14 but escaped from a police cell the previous day.
The witnesses’ lawyer Charles Mwangi urged the court to visit the crime scene and ascertain the distance between the main road and the petrol station. He told senior resident magistrate Peter Areri that Jelle could not estimate distances well because he is illiterate. Jelle testified in Somali language through an interpreter. Ten other prosecution witnesses will testify.

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Breaking News: Witness says cop robbed petrol station, killed guard privateofficer.org - News Paper