Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo has forgiven a suspected gangster accused of holding his family hostage and robbing him at gunpoint during a raid in his Nairobi residence last year. The MP asked the prosecution to withdraw a charge against Samuel Otieno, alias Tabu Ley, which was pending before a magistrate at the Milimani Law Courts.
“He spared my life and I want to extend the same kindness to him. I heard him tell the rest of his accomplices not to kill me even after one of them said I should be finished, and in the spirit of forgiveness, my family and I have chosen to drop the pursuit of this case,” the politician told the court.
Armed gangsters invaded the MP’s home in the Kisembe Kipevu area of Lang’ata on the night of February 19, 2014 at about 3.30 am while the MP, his wife, Catherine Mutheu, and a house-help, Patricia Muoki, were asleep but were awoken by “movement” inside the master bedroom. The suspects had reportedly scaled a perimeter wall before accosting the family, police said.
“I have forgiven you, go and do something better with your life, but if you get involved in robbery again, please do spare lives as you spared mine,” the MP told the suspect in court before he crossed the floor of the courtroom to shake hands with his assailant.
Positively Identified
He said he had positively identified the man as being among the four suspects who stormed his house. The thugs demanded a gun from the MP and threatened to shoot him if he failed to hand over the firearm, a report in the court file states.
“They forced the househelp into her employer’s bedroom during the robbery, the report states further. Mr Maanzo was injured in the forehead when one of the thugs, who wore a mask, hit him with a gun butt, while his wife was injured in the back of her head.
The couple was later admitted to Nairobi Hospital, where they were treated and discharged the next day. On May 28, one of the suspects, Grace Adhiambo Otieno, was traced to Racecourse in Dagoretti. She was found using one of the mobile phones stolen from the MP’s house and after her arrest she confessed to having bought the phone from Mr Otieno.
She was charged with the offence of handling stolen property and robbery with violence but later died in a shoot-out after her release on bail when police confronted a gang suspected to have participated in the robbery.
On May 29, Administration Police officers, acting on a tip-off, arrested Mr Otieno, who had been identified by Ms Adhiambo “as the one who sold her the mobile phone stolen at the MP’s home.”
He had been charged with robbing the MP of Sh110,000 in cash, a gold decoration of the Elder of the Burning Spear award valued at Sh100,000, a Pentax digital camera valued at Sh25,000 and spare car keys valued at Sh5,000.
Mr Otieno faced additional charges of robbing the MP’s wife of assorted jewellery and other valuables amounting to Sh100,000, and the househelp of a mobile phone valued at Sh2,500.
Asked whether he had been threatened or coerced to drop the case, the MP, a lawyer by profession, said he had chosen not to pursue the matter on his “own volition”.
However, the prosecution asked that the case be withdrawn under Section 87 (a) of the Penal Code, which allows rearrest and subsequent charging if fresh evidence emerges against the suspect.
