Kisumu businessman recounts ordeal in the hands of 'robbers'

KISUMU, KENYA: A businessman on Wednesday narrated to a Kisumu law court how he was robbed at gun point and lost valuables worth Sh200, 000.

Laxman Singh the owner of the Super Lake Victoria Hotel was testifying in a case where two people are facing charges of violently robbing him Sh165, 000 and two mobile phones.

The alleged crime happened on the May 2.

Singh told the court that the two accused persons Duncan Ochoro and Wilson Ochieng entered the hotel premises where he also resides and gained access into his room when he was preparing to go to bed.

"I was ordered to lie down while a gun had been pointed on my head; my hands were tied together while my mouth was sealed using a tape. The two warned me not raise any alarm because if I did so, I would be killed", Singh told Kisumu principal magistrate Harrison Adika.

The court heard that Ochieng was the one who searched the room for the money and mobile phones while Ochoro was in charge of threatening the complainant.

Part of the stolen money comprised £100 while the remainder was Sh150, 000 meant to pay the staff at the Super Lake Victoria Hotel.

The court was told that Singh managed to free himself after struggling with the two accused persons. Through the struggle, Singh inflicted a wound on the head of Ochoro with a knife that the accused person had carried.

It is this wound that helped in identification of the suspects.

Police were later called in after the midnight incident, where they tracked the stolen phone to the Kisumu East District Hospital where Ochoro had gone seek medical attention. He was arrested at the hospital after being admitted.

Ochoro however told the court that the accused person had wrongly identified him and he had made up the robbery incident as a way of not paying his workers.

"This wound was inflicted on me elsewhere, and the complainant is just using this self made robbery incident in order not pay his workers", said Ochoro.

The two were remanded until 17 February 2016 when the hearing will continue.