DP Ruto’s pilot pleads not guilty, to remain in custody till Monday

Alistair Patrick Llewelyn. (Photo: Antony Gitonga/Standard)

The pilot caught on camera assaulting a police officer will stay in custody till February 29 when the court will review his application for bond.

Alistair Patrick Llewelyn was arraigned before Engineer town Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Mutegi charged with two counts of assault and causing disturbance.

The shaken and exhausted British national was charged with assaulting police corporal Mercy Wandera at Ndunyu Njeru town in Kinangop on February 21, 2016.

He faced a second charge of creating disturbance on the same day by calling the police officer "stupid" corporal.

The prosecution led by George Mong'are objected to the release of the accused on bond saying that he was a flight risk.

Mong'are told the court that apart from the alien card that the pilot has, he did not have a passport adding that he could flee from the country.

The prosecutor further told the court that the accused could interfere with the State witnesses and the ongoing investigations.

"If the court grants him bond or cash bail, they should come with strict terms and conditions so that the accused doesn't flee the country," he said.

The accused's lawyer Stanley Kang'ahi however objected to this saying that the accused though a British national, was born and brought up in Kenya.

He told the court that being a foreigner was not a reason to deny a suspect bond adding that the accused was entitled to cash bail.

The lawyer said that the accused had a wife and a three month old child and challenged the prosecution to prove how the pilot could flee the country.

The magistrate remanded the pilot at the Engineer Police station until February 29 when he will make a ruling.

The pilot had flown Deputy President William Ruto for a function in Nyandarua when the incident happened.