Nairobi court charges British terror suspect Jermaine Grant with robbery with violence

By Isaiah Lucheli

Nairobi, Kenya: A magistrate court has ruled that a British citizen who is a terror suspect faces robbery with violence charges preferred against him.

Nairobi Chief Magistrate Kiarie Waweru Thursday ruled that Jermaine Grant will have to face all the five counts of robbery with violence leveled against him by the prosecution.

“The prosecution has established a prima facie case. The suspect will face the charges that have been preferred against him,” he ruled.

Kiarie explained that the prosecution in their submissions in court had proved that it had adequate evidence to sustain the charges against Grant and it was now upon him to defend himself.

Grant will now face charges of attacking a police post in Wajir four years ago and escaping from lawful custody.

Grant is facing another suit in Mombasa where he is charged alongside Fuad Abubakar Manswab, a Kenyan terror suspect and Frank Ngala, with plotting terrorism campaign in 2011.

They were arraigned in a Mombasa court and charged with being in possession of bomb- making materials and planning to use them in an attack in the coastal town.

The terror suspects were found with batteries, wires, ammonium nitrate, nacetone and hydrogen peroxide.

They were arrested with Anti-Terrorism Police Unit Officers with Grant as they planned to detonate explosives in Mombasa on December 20 2011.

The other charges preferred against them included being in possession of explosives, being a member of an organised group and preparing to commit felony.

A warrant of arrest was issued after Abubakar jumped bail after he, and Grant’s wife Warder Breikh and Ngala were granted a bail of Sh20 million each and one surety.

Ngala failed to raise the bail and remains in custody while Breikh and Abubakar, raised the bond, but the Abubakar disappeared and has not attended court.

Grant, was convicted of being in the country illegally and conspiring to commit crime and also lying to the court that he was a Canadian by the name Peter Joseph.

He was arrested near the Somali border on May 31 2008 at Dadajabula Administraion Police (AP) post but he was freed an hour later by an armed gang suspected to be militants belonging to the Alshabaab.

Police says the gang stole four guns, bullet and police vehicle while a police officer was also injured during the attack.