Mombasa mosque chaos suspects deny charges
What you need to know:
- They appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo and denied all the seven counts that the prosecution had preferred against them.
- The 70, with others not before court, allegedly committed the offenses on February 2, 2014 at Masjid Musa.
At least 70 men who were arrested two weeks ago during riots at Masjid Musa in Mombasa were Wednesday charged with being members of al-Shabaab among other terror related counts.
They appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo and denied all the seven counts that the prosecution had preferred against them.
The 70, with others not before court, allegedly committed the offenses on February 2, 2014 at Masjid Musa.
In the first count, the prosecution alleged that being members of the al-Shabaab, the 70 men assembled at Masjid Musa in Mombasa County for the purposes of furthering acts of terrorism.
In the second count, they denied being found with two flags bearing drawings of AK 47 rifles, assorted compact discs with materials of war meant to instigate commission of a terrorism act contrary to the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 30 of 2012.
The third count only targeted Mr Sulemain Sheikh Ali who denied inciting groups of persons to carry out a terrorism act.
In the fourth count, all suspects denied committing robbery with violence with others not before court.
The charge sheet stated that while armed with knives and AK47 rifles they robbed police constable David Litiko of his G3 rifle and a magazine of 20 rounds all valued at Sh79,980, the property of Kenya National Police Service.
The court further heard that immediately before and immediately after the time of such alleged robbery the suspects wounded Mr Litiko and a police constable Peter Makemba.
They also denied the fifth count in which the prosecution claimed that they were found with an AK 47 rifle whose serial number was not visible and knives in circumstances that indicated that they were armed with intent to commit a felony, namely murder.
The suspected Al-Shabaab members also denied the sixth and the seventh counts in which they were alleged to have been found with an AK rifle and 5 rounds of 7.62 mm (special) without a firearms certificate.
Mr Onesmus Toweit who is in-charge of prosecution at the Mombasa Law Courts, and investigation officer Inspector Evans Wasonga asked the trial magistrate not to release them on bond or bail on claims of them being a threat to national security.
The court is set to make its ruling on whether or not to release the 70 accused persons on bond on February 26, 2014.
