11 Kettle House bouncers freed on bail in assault case

Employees of Kettle House Bar and Grill in Kilimani, Nairobi when they appeared before Milimani Law Courts. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Twelve employees of Kettle House Bar and Grill in Kilimani, Nairobi, have been charged with six offences of assaulting journalists and police officers on Friday last week during a shisha raid by NACADA.

Eleven (11) bouncers and the club manager all denied the charges levelled against them when presented before Senior Principal Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe.

Those charged were identified as Albanus Luseno Mucheywa, Charles Otieno Opiyo, Bramuel Ngosane, Joseph Mwai Owiyo, Daniel Kaka Einyangala, Iddi Onyango, Daniel Mburu Ngugi, Antony Ndune Wanjiku, Emily Awuor, Elizabeth Malesi and Linda Chapkorir.

They denied all charges and were each released on a bond of Sh100, 000 or alternative cash bail of Sh30 000 each.

Nine other bouncers failed to show up for the plea-taking. Their cash bail was forfeited to the State and a warrant of arrest was issued.

The bar manager, Sospeter Otieno who was also present in court was charged with one count of selling Shisha and was released on a cash bail of Sh10,000.

Court charged the club bouncers that on January 5, 2024, with others not before the court, they assaulted and injured journalists, and police officers attached to NACADA during a crackdown on Shisha joints.

Through their lawyer, the suspects requested reasonable bail terms, as "they had cooperated with police since their arrest."

"Their place of work is well known, they have young families and they are all security guards," the defence team argued, adding that the suspects would fully cooperate with the investigators during the period of trial.

The prosecution side did not object to bail but maintained that the court should bear the magnitude of the offences facing the suspects.

The case will be mentioned on January 24.