[Photo Caption: Shem Karani Karimi, Halford Munene Murakaru, his brother Charles Mwangi Murakaru and Julius Ndung'u Wainaina at the Thika magistrate's court. Photo/nation.co.ke]
Three of the four suspects charged with stealing more than Sh50 million from a bank are now facing additional charges.
Mr. Halford Munene Murakaru and his brother Charles Mwangi Murakaru and their cousin Julius Ndung’u were being accused of allegedly being in possession of 200 national identity cards, 200 Orange sim cards, 1,239 MTN sim cards, five Cyprus Telecommunication Authority cards (CYTA) and seven central processing units.
The court heard that the said items are suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained, on November 25, 2017, at Joyland Estate in Juja township within Kiambu county.
The fourth suspect, Mr. Shem Karini Kirimi was facing charges of allegedly being in possession of three national identity cards all suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained when he was arrested in Mtwapa township, Mombasa County.
The four accused persons were also being charged that between November 18 and 20, they jointly entered KCB Thika through an underground tunnel and stole Sh52 million.
The accused persons, however, denied the charges before Thika chief magistrate Theresa Murigi.
Magistrate Murigi had ordered that they are released on a Sh4 million bond with two sureties of similar amount each.
They, however, failed to raise the bond and are still in police custody and through their lawyer Waithera Mwangi representing the first three accused, applied for a review of the bond terms.
Lawyer Mwangi said her clients come from humble backgrounds and cannot raise the amount adding that they are not a flight risk since two of them are married and are caring for their young families and the third is engaged.
State counsel Stella Oyagi, however, opposed the bail terms review application, saying investigations are still ongoing and may unearth more crimes adding that accused might interfere with investigations.
The case will be mentioned on December 20.