Woman charged over theft of Sh8.8m lorry

The State did not object to suspect's release on bond and bail. [iStockphoto]

A 28-year-old woman is being accused of stealing a Sh8.8 million tipper truck with 500kg activated carbon worth Sh15 million.

Melanie Musanga Witoka and her co-accused Ezekiel Obwabi denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Julius Ngarngar of Kakamega who granted them a bond of Sh6 million with two sureties of a similar amount.

The prosecution said the incident happened on December 10 at Shitoli area on the Kakamega–Kisumu road, when a Toyota Noah blocked the road. Witoka and others who are still at large alighted from the vehicle armed with a pistol and a panga and executed the robbery.

The occupants of the lorry were dumped in the Kakamega Forest “where they managed to untie themselves and reported the matter to Shinyalu Police Station.”

Farah is said to have been assaulted with a panga after she tried to resist, the prosecution told the court.

The complaints Amos Kioko and Shukri Farah say they also lost mobile phones worth Sh28,000.

The State did not object to their release on bond and bail.

Sensitive matter

“This is a sensitive matter and the complainant went through a huge loss and in retaliation the accused should be granted a high bond which is equivalent to the loss,” said the prosecution.

The accused had asked the court to grant her bond promising to attend all court sessions.

“I pray the court will grant me bond and I will also appear before the court when asked. I am not a flight risk and I have a family to take care of, denying me bond will be so unfair,” said Witoka.